Bioshock 2: To be human is to be a Father
by Deaddak
Summary: What if Delta had 2 daughters instead of only Eleanor? Would they escape Rapture? Rated M for adult themes/language in later chapters!
1. Father

***Author's note: Thank you for taking time to read this, it is my first work of fiction since 2004 or so. One of my sisters recently took up writing fanfic and I got inspired to take up a pen again...as it were. Enjoy this fan fiction of Bioshock 2, one of my all time favorite games! Please feel free to leave me any feedback, point out any spelling errors etc! I love hearing what you all think!**

Delta opened his eyes, a low rumble escaping his eviscerated throat as his vision cleared. Slowly the Alpha Series Big Daddy arose to his feet, his large boots causing ripples in the puddle beneath him. He looked around, at the familiar yet now decrepit hallway of Rapture dimly lit as the glow of his helmet cast eerie shadows across the corridor.

He heard a strange thrumming sound and he turned in time to see the glow of the _Vita-Chamber_ fading to leave the hallway even darker than before. Distrubed though he was, the memory of the last image and voice he heard, his dear Little Sister, his daughter, Eleanor, still echoed in his thoughts as he set off through the dank halls.

"_Daddy!_" came the voice of Eleanor, followed by the loud bang of the Luger pistol.

Yet, the Big Daddy, formerly known as Johnny Topside, could not yet figure out where he was, nor could he recall much beyond awakening outside the _Vita-Chamber_. He paused, hearing a rustle nearby around the corner, the dingy hallway's few remaining lights flickering.

Delta raised his drill, revving it up and all at once a lone Spicer lept out from around the corner, his shrill laughter cutting through the stillness. Delta charged, swinging his drill in a sharp sweeping arc, aiming for the male Splicer's head. "Arrghh!" cried the Splicer as he took the pointed tip right in the temple, a stain of blood splattering the decaying wall. The impact knocked the man off his feet, his head hitting the opposite wall as bits of plaster came away from the impact and the Splicer spasmed and remained still. Delta let loose a heavy sigh as he thought to himself, _some things never change, do they?_

Truging along, he spared the dead Splicer no further mind as he walked around the corner, checking on his Drill's fuel and he gave a satisfied grunt.

Delta soon came to a T in the hallway, his heavy footfalls stopping as he pondered which way to go. The steady trickle of water leaking and dripping into the corridors was a constant reminder that Rapture was now in a constant state of decay. As Delta looked to his left and to his right, he continued to wonder just what had happened to the once grand undersea city...

_The Little Sister stood by the body of her Big Daddy, her hands covering her face as tears flowed. "D-daddy..." she sobbed, her eyes blurry as she wept. Why did the Angels have to be so very mean? Nearby, another Daddy was standing watch, the bodies of several Splicers he had dispached sprawled around him as blood dripped from his drill. Delta walked up to the crying Little Sister carefully and he tucked his drill away, leaving both of his large perpetiually gloved hands free as he reached out. The Little Sister felt his gentle touch on her slender shoulder, and she looked up into the glowing elongated glass of his helmet even as her tears continued. Daddy...Daddy saved me from the bad Angels, she thought to herself as she hurled herself against Delta, sobbing harder. Delta did his best to console the little girl, his arms around her tattered dress, which must have once been a bright sunny yellow but had faded some time ago. If Delta could speak, he would have told her to be strong, to not cry because her own Daddy would have wanted her to be brave. Delta slowly stood, lifting the Little Sister up as gently as he could, cradling her in his arms as her small form trembled from her turbulent emotions. The yellow glow of her eyes dimmed as she gradually fell asleep in his arms, whimpering softly. Delta, though forever now unable to speak save for grunts and wailing moans, silently raged as he stepped on the hand of one of the Splicers, crushing it with a satisfying *crunch* underfoot. How dare these animals attack her, how dare they. It would seem that there were destined to be parasites in Rapture as well._

_Delta, walked cautiously, listening beyond the *thump thump* of his large booted feet for any more Splicers. Soon he arrived at a small alcove, young Eleanor stood waiting as he had directed her. "Daddy, who's that Daddy?" she asked. Though it had not been long since they were bonded, altered by the twisted geniuses of Rapture, already she and Delta conveyed so much through body language and a simple dipping of his head told her that he did not know and also why he was carrying her. Eleanor gasped, her hands going to her mouth as she teared up. "Her Daddy..." she said, though she did not say anything more. Delta knelt down as delicately as he could, gently waking up the traumatized Little Sister. "Daddy?" she asked as he set her down by Eleanor. He pointed at himself, then at Eleanor. She turned to find Eleanor smiling at her, her own yellow eyes bright with tears. "I'm sorry you lost your Daddy...this is mine...Daddy Delta..." she said, keeping her voice low, her english accent somehow bringing a calm to her fellow Little Sister._

_"N-nice to meet you, I'm..." she frowned, trying to remember. As her face became troubled again, Eleanor quickly smiled, wiping her eyes as she walked towards her, still speaking softly. "I'm Eleanor...I'm so sorry you lost your Daddy," she said as she stopped, now closer to the girl. "Thank you," said the Little Sister, smiling as she kept trying to remember her own name. All she knew for sure was that she had been with her Daddy for 2 months and that he looked a lot like Delta. "I'm...I'm...Selene, and my Daddy was like yours...um I think he was called...Theta?" Delta made a low remble as he stood over them, ever listening, ever watchful. Delta knew that aside from himself and Eleanor, there were 6 other Alpha Series Big Daddies. _

_Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted as he heard a distant boom, the immdiate following of a tremble of the floor beneath them signfying an explosion on the lower levels of Fort Frolic. "Un oh, I think more bad Angels are coming soon..." Eleanor shook as she clung close to Delta. Selene was suddenly lifted into the air by Delta as he turned and held the girl to the vent. "No! No I want to stay with you...Daddy!" she struggled as Eleanor held her finger to her lips, trying to tell Selene to be quiet._

_Delta felt a pain in his heart, wishing he could let the girl stay with them, but he knew from the sounds of things it was a large party heading up to greet them, and he had a feeling they were not bringing chips and dip. Delta, moaned, a pained sound and he ushered Selene into the vent despite her protests, readying to close the circular cover. "Daddy...I..." she choked as new tears threatened. She just lost her Daddy and now she felt like she was losing her new one too soon. "Go, please...you'll be safe in there! We'll find you later, I promise!" came Eleanor's frantic voice beside Delta._

_Selene, nodded meekly, tucking her head back into the hole and Delta started to close the vent. Suddenly Selene sprang out half way, hugging Delta's helmet as she cried. Delta could hear the Splicers very close now and he groaned, his tone making Eleanor feel a strange ping. She didn't know what it was, but she dismissed it as she called up again "please go, we have to go too!" she tugged on Delta's side, her small hands gripping at his rubber encased thigh. _

_Selene wiped her eyes, nodding and she slowly shrunk back into the vent. Her blond hair hung in front of her face as she waved sadly to Delta as he shut the vent. "I like your dress by the way!" came her muffled voice, bringing a smile to Eleanor's face. Delta scooped up his Little Sister, determined to protect her at all costs. Even if that meant running away. Even if that meant that all he felt for her was the result of chemicals introduced into his brain when he had been a man, human. Yet as he ran, his mind akimble with thoughts of Selene sleeping in his arms and now Eleanor scared as she clung to him, he thought to himself: isn't that what part of being human is about...protecting those you love?_

_**11 Years Later, 1968**_

A voice echoed within his head suddenly, stopping his dilemma, a voice he knew even if time had changed her, he knew it could only be her.

**Father...?**


	2. Big Sister

**Father, it`s me, Eleanor...it has been a long time, but I have made sure that mother won't be able toy with you like that ever again...please, find me...Father...I missed you…**

Delta`s eyes widened in his helmet, for he knew it was truly his Little Sister, his daughter, his Eleanor. How different she sounded, so grown up!

He smiled to himself, yet again wishing he could talk to her...but wait...he had heard her in his mind...surely… ~Eleanor…~

Eleanor grew startled suddenly, for it seemed as if with the passage of time, their bond had grown stronger. Eleanor stared at her vague reflection in the glass which surrounded her in her prison, her eyes brimming as she smiled. Yet it also faltered, as she also quickly realized that, until they we reunited, it would be best if they only communicated sparingly.

**Father...I hope we meet soon, mother has been alerted that someone has returned using a **_**Vita-Chamber**_** and I fear she will soon discover it is you...please, hurry...Father...I love you.**

Delta made a strange sound, and were he able to speak it would have been a shout of joy. Joy that his daughter was still in Rapture and safe for the moment. Though he was unsure of her whereabouts, he would be very determined to find her, to save her no matter what the odds.

~My dear Eleanor...I will find you and I love you too..~ he thought to her as he turned to his right down the corridor. Sure Rapture had become a dingy pathetic shadow of its former glory, but when its founder preaches ideals of selfishness and greed, what else could the result be once ADAM was discovered?

A group of Splicers appeared suddenly ahead of Delta, two of them had guns, a tommy gun and a revolver. The other two welded a wrench and a crowbar, but Delta was not concerned.

"Well well, looky what we have 'ere boys...a lone lugger...lets teach this one a lesson so all the Big Daddies won't soon forget that **we** run this town!" declared the tommy gun toting Splicer in his gravelly voice.

Delta roared, his eyes glowing red now, a result of the extensive genetic changes the scientists of Rapture had made to him, which also gave him far greater strength than that of a normal person as well as stamina beyond even the most gifted of athletes. The Splicers with guns opened fire while the two with melee weapons charged at Delta from the sides, keeping close to the walls.

He could see they were slowed due to the debris littering the hall and he revved up his drill, lunging at the one on his left. The Splicer tried to dodge but it was too late as Delta pinned him to the broken wall, lifting him easily in his left hand, which tightened until Delta heard a satisfying *snap* and he held the dead attacker in front of him, who now took the brunt of the gunfire. Delta backhanded the other one with his drill arm, the side of it catching the Splicer in the face who screamed as half of his already deformed face was now simply gone.

"Ahhh, fuck!" he raged as he fell to his knees, clutching his bloody head. The two who had the guns stopped firing as they stared in horror. "Jesus Christ, lets get the fuck outta here, Lenny!" cried the pistol Splicer, who quickly dropped his empty revolver anyway, giving Delta pause. The leader of the former quartet, now trio, snarled and swung the stock of his tommy gun up and smashed it into the face of his comrade who fell away, grunting as he hit the wall and slid down it, not moving.

Delta wasted no time, throwing the dead one he held with all his strength at the one named Lenny. Just as Lenny turned back to face Delta, he was struck with the bloody body and sent crashing into the far wall which was a long way away still. A sickening *splat* sounded off the hallway as both bodies fell to the floor, a large stain of blood now marking where they had hit.

"Oh my god, you s-" started the lone Splicer who stayed on his knees behind Delta, but he never finished as Delta turned and gave the guy a hard kick to his jaw, shattering his teeth and snapping his neck with the force of his blow. The Splicer was sent hurtling down the way Delta had come and the Big Daddy grunted in satisfaction.

~SOME TIME LATER~

It had been quite a time, Delta had acquired the plasmid _electro-shock_ as well as a rivet gun. As if he was not a force to be reckoned with before. He had readily killed a few more Splicers as he traversed the broken halls of _Adonis Luxury Resort_. Delta also found that the more he walked through the decaying sections and the more he was in deep commune with Eleanor, the more he was able to remember about his own past.

One thing he would not soon forget was his encounter with what he learned more about from Eleanor, was called a Big Sister…

_Delta turned into an archway, hearing the quieted murmurings of the Little Sister he had been pursuing following her sudden abduction from his presence by the same nimble form he had beheld not long after his first telepathic contact with his daughter. Delta paused, wary of an ambush, for he knew that anyone who could jump as high as that strangely clad person was no mere Splicer. He took a few tentative steps into the large room, the entire back wall no wall at all but a great crescent window. Several paces away there was the Little Sister, playing by one of the great puddles. He walked to her, his great thumping footfalls making her turn to stand from her crouch. Delta picked her up and almost at once he heard a terrible screech. "Big Sister doesn't want you playing with me…" the Little Sister said in a sad tone. _

_Delta looked around, not seeing anyone but he knew this was not a safe place, so he set the girl down and gave a grateful sigh when she ran off the way he had come. As he turned back into the grand room which was a large lounge from the looks of things, the strange slender figure, whom the Little Sister had called Big Sister, leapt down from where she had been perched high above in the shadows. She sprang off of the great set of stairs in the center of the room which were disconnected and useless. Somersaulting through the air to land on Delta's shoulders. He stared up at the glowing red viewport of her smaller rounder diver's helmet, stunned at what had just happened and he also noted in the back of his mind that she was lighter than he thought she would be, given that her suit was very similar to his own. _

_Yet as he stood still, staring up at the Big Sister, strange feelings came over him…_

_Meanwhile, as Eleanor watched, laying in her bed, her eyes closed as she saw through her Father's eyes, the same feeling coursed through her as well, yet she knew it was not merely due to the psychic link she shared with her Father in which they could feel what each other thought and felt no matter how far apart they were. Yes, there was something rather...familiar about this Big Sister they both now stared up at._

_The Big Sister sprang away with the same alacrity as before, flipping through the air and landing in one of the puddles of the Adonis Lounge. Strangely, she seemed to hesitate, turning to regard the broken stairs and then Delta. Her body was pensive and though she did not move to attack, Delta could see she was clearly at war with something within herself. She screeched once more, bounding away to the great window at the back, using it to springboard into the darkness overhead once more._

Delta shook out of his revere, his thoughts cast back into the present as he listened to Eleanor in his mind. **...and then Mother took me away to be locked up in this dreadful place...it's so dark here...darker than Rapture...I can't even see the murky sea...no windows...Father please hurry, I think whatever plans Mother has in store for me will soon come to pass, please hurry.**

~I will find you, don't worry daughter...I promise…~ Delta thought back to her, putting his love for her through their link, and Eleanor smiled as she hugged her knees to herself, the warmth of his presence in her mind, the warmth of his love, helped her not to shiver quite as much in the cold dim light of her glass prison.

Delta looked ahead, seeing a pair of Splicers blocking his way into the next room. He took aim and fired, the familiar *chink* sound of his rivet gun firing alerted them but it was too late. Plumes of dirty crimson appeared, peppering their hunched grotesque bodies as they screamed, spasming as they fell to the faded tiles of the hallway dead or dying as they fell to their knees and keeled over.

Moments later he entered another room, similar to the bar from before, in that it was also backed by a great window. Suddenly, before he had taken more than a handful of steps into the room after having jumped into it off a ledge, he saw the same Big Sister. He knew it could only be the same one because the sense of familiarity he felt was echoed in his thoughts by Eleanor.

As before, the Big Sister seemed to hesitate and he took a few steps towards her, reaching out with his left hand, his palm facing up since he tried his best to show he was not going to attack yet at the same time he kept his rivet gun at the ready in his right hand.

He could see she wielded a large needle, much larger than the ADAM extractors that the Little Sisters had. The Big Sister kept her distance, her port glowing a more neutral yellow much like his own.

However before he took one more step, she leapt back quickly, bringing up her large needle as she sprang up past the window, cutting an arc with her weaponized needle.

As the glass cracked and water began to gush into the room, he spotted her, standing by a square vent in the floor. Perhaps it was his imagination, and within his mind Eleanor wondered the same thing, but could it be that she took a step towards him?

She dove into the hole as the glass shattered, Delta quickly forced to tuck away his weapon as the ocean flooded the room with gusto.

Delta was pushed back, and suddenly the floor gave way, sending him down into greater darkness. A spike of pain sent his vision into a tinge of pink as he felt something large and sharp poke into his lower back. **Father! **came Eleanor's cry of alarm as she doubled over in pain on her bed, feeling what he felt yet for once Delta was grateful for the distance, for the shock had she been nearby would have possibly rendered her unconscious. Delta let loose a cry of pain, pushing off the great pipe, a piece of which had been corroded to stick out and which now he found himself impaled upon. With a roar of effort and pain he managed to push off the jagged sliver of metal, the air around him soon murky with his blood. Why weren't his Med-Kits working? He checked and found that he had used up the last of them, smaller ones.

Delta topped onto his right side, groaning as the pain spiked. **Father?! Father! **came Eleanor's voice, growing more distant as dark edges consumed his vision.

From beyond the bloodied water, Delta saw a shape emerging, the form of the Big Sister. All he saw was the hazy yellow glow and as his vision left him and the pain made unconsciousness take him, he and his daughter heard a voice, not from his suit's radio, but from the Big Sister as he felt her hands take hold of him.

The Big Sister's glowing yellow eyes dimmed as she wept within her helmet, her voice cracking as she started to pull Delta to safety…

"Daddy...I'm so sorry…!"


	3. Mother of Rapture

Eleanor stared at her muddled reflection in the glass of her enclosure, her eyes red from crying, worry creasing her brow. There were no more tears, only questions for now. Who was that Big Sister? What happened to her father? Was he okay? How she yearned to hear his thoughts, to sense him fully once more. She knew he was still alive, for she would have felt it greatly had he died. Eleanor wiped her eyes as she heard footsteps approaching out of the darkness, adjusting her simple white gown as she sat up straighter, trying to compose herself. She knew who it was without turning to look, the clicking heels, the very air of self-righteousness that her mother projected even through the glass of her isolation cell.

"Eleanor...I saw you on my monitor, what happened, what's wrong?" came the voice of Doctor Sophia Lamb, de facto leader of the Rapture Family. Eleanor turned to face her mother, keeping her face carefully neutral.

"Nothing, mother, I was simply sneezing...it's rather cold in here you know…"

Dr. Lamb frowned, adjusting her horn-rimmed glasses upon her slender nose as she took a step closer to her estranged daughter. It had been 10 years or so since she had so coldly caused the death of Subject Delta aka Johnny Topside. How dare the scum of Rapture turn her only child into one of those despicable Little Sisters! One could say she took out her anger on the wretched Big Daddy. As she placed her hand on the cold glass, she remembered the aftermath of that fateful night…

_Sophia looked on in cold contempt at Subject Delta's body, the luger pistol having clattered away. The Splicer filth who had thrown the Hypnotize Big Daddy Plasmid had since retrieved it._

_"Daddy….Daddy!" came Eleanor's wrecked sobbing. Lamb seethed, her heels clicking on the hard floor as she went to where her daughter was kneeling, crying against Subject Delta's side._

_Wordlessly, Lamb reached and yanked her daughter up and away from the body, ignoring Eleanor's protests and anger._

_"No! Nooo! Mother why?! Why did you make Da-" she started, cut off as Lamb jerked her around to face up at her. "He was not your father!" she shouted. Her voice giving even the Splicer a tremble of fear. Eleanor tried to pull away, even as Lamb started walking back up the stairs, taking her with her by the hand. "No, no Daddy! Daddy!" she cried, her yellow eyes spilling her tears of anguish._

_She beat her fist against her mother's hip, trying in vain to yank her wrist from her mother's steely grasp. Lamb sighed as they reached the top of the stairs. Turning to call down to the Splicer who was busy looting Delta's corpse. "You there, come, you must sedate my daughter."_

_The Splicer smiled through his crooked decaying teeth as he bounded up the stairs and thrust his hand out, using Electro Shock to send a thin stream of lightning at Eleanor._

_She screamed, her body shaking violently as she collapsed, Lamb having let her go before the shock reached her own hand._

_Lamb struck quickly, slapping the filth hard and sending him tumbling down the stairs. "You animal! I meant for you to hold her while I sedated her with this syringe!" she shouted, her voice even louder than before._

_The Splicer hissed as he stood up, having gotten some of Delta's blood on his dirty pants. "You fucking bitch! I lost two of my friends to this bastard! I won't forget this...Lenny never forgets shit!"_

_Lamb crouched to stroke Eleanor's dirty hair, fighting past her revulsion to all Little Sisters, for she was still her mother. WIth her other hand, she stood and aimed the luger at the Splicer as she stated coldly, "I suggest you forget about this, mr. Lenny…" and shot him in the abdomen without hesitation. He screamed and collapsed to his knees, clutching his stomach._

_Doctor Sophia Lamb threw the gun down, turning to couch and heft up her daughter, grunting softly. As she walked into the nearby elevator, she continued to seethe with rage, cursing Andrew Ryan and Frank Fontain and especially Doctor's Suchong and Tenenbaum, the two most directly responsible for turning her only daughter into this...this abomination._

_She let out a heavy sigh as she held her daughter, already tiring from the entire ordeal. As the elevator ascended, she began to form a plan. She knew that first and foremost, she would need to solicit the assistance of a certain scientist or two to see if her daughter's conditioning and genetic alterations could be undone. Secondly she would continue to hope against hope that Andrew Ryan and his kind would get what they deserved. She would need to go into hiding, she would need allies and she would need to be patient. Above all else, if her plans were to succeed she would need patience… She looked down at the unconscious form of her daughter, trembling as she continued to bottle up her anger, her thoughts dark as the elevator pinged and the doors slid open. "Not her father...her real father died years ago...this monster was NOT her father…." she muttered as she walked out of the elevator, knowing there was much work to yet be done._

**Ten Years Later, 1968**

Lamb scratched the glass of the isolation cell in which sat her daughter on her bed. It would not take long for the leader of the Rapture Family's plans to fully be realized, now that Eleanor was at long last compliant. Lamb could still read her daughter very well and she knew it was no sneeze which had earlier caused her to double over. Doctor Sophia Lamb, once Rapture's most eminent psychologist, allowed herself a smile. It was a rare thing, a smile to curve her lips. For ten years she had worked to rehabilitate Eleanor, largely succeeding.

Unfortunately she knew if she was indeed going to place a great deal of knowledge into her dauther, infusing her on a genetic level, she would have to leave her mind alone. As a result of that night as well as what she knew beforehand, never would she submit her precious girl to electroshock therapy. It would have worked to get rid of Eleanor's memories of Subject Delta thus greatly speeding along her deprogramming, however as it had not been done, Lamb knew that the memory of Delta still burned in Eleanor's mind. Lamb narrowed her eyes as she felt the familiar anger seep into her. She too had never forgotten Delta, but for different reasons. Lamb was glad he had long since died, yet knowing that Eleanor thought about him...missed him, when she had sadly been too young to remember her true father…

Lamb's gaze sharply refocused as she saw Eleanor stand and walk towards her, seeing that she still refused to wear slippers. Whether it was from her time as a Little Sister or something else, Lamb had never given it much thought except to make her disapproval well known. "Mother…," Eleanor said in a flat tone as she stood before Lamb, an inch of glass and some metal all that separated them. This was not lost on either of them, for they knew that it was far more than glass and steel that had long since divided them.

"I wish you would not lie to me, Eleanor. I know I was not around much when you were growing up...but I have tried to be here for you these last ten years...can't you see that?" she asked, a faint light of hope in her eyes as her glasses caught the light of the far bulbs overhead,

Eleanor folded her arms, shivering yet she embraced the chill as she said, "Wrong mother...you have been here for yourself!" Eleanor, narrowed her eyes as she continued, shifting subtly from foot to foot. "All you did was take away my father and change me back...but we both know I'm still carrying my ADAM slug, that can never be taken out, and what's more, you claim to have been here for me but that's a lie!

"I was so lonely after you took father, but you still kept your distance, you still treated me as another patient! You only ever came to see how I was progressing in my treatments and then came the injections, the reading, the incessant noise of your scientists! Maybe there was a time when I could have said 'I love you mommy' but you always chose your work over me, even before we came down here, I remember it. I don't remember my real father, and you have never told me about him, barely anything! Let me tell you, I had a real father...he was my Daddy and you killed him! I hated you for it then and I hate you for it now! I hate you! I HATE YOU!"

Eleanor smashed her fists against the glass, but it just rattled slightly, for although she had an enormous amount of ADAM coursing through her, she was bereft of any Tonics or Plasmids and so was for all intents and purposes, a normal girl...for now.

During her outburst, Lamb was trembling, and in her mind she knew her daughter was right, yet despite the pain in her heart that her daughter hated her, she was still an intellectual, still ruled by her mind, by logic and reason, not love and emotion. "I am sorry you feel this way, Eleanor, but soon you will be the first great Utopian...all of Rapture's knowledge, its splendor and experiences shall be contained within you, and I will not let anyone stop me from realizing a decade's worth of planning. Rapture may have been the dream of a madman, a fool until his end, but Andrew Ryan did teach me one thing. The individual is unpredictable, unstable. I will take all that we are, the elite of the elite of what remains and funnel it all into you. You shall be a glorious one woman collective, a testament to a new ideal. A family of one. Subject Delta almost took you from me, the wretched scientists down here almost took you from me and Fontaine did his part as well. Nothing will stop me from completing this work, not even you. Maybe you are right, that all you have become is one final grand experiment, but in the end, I'd rather have my daughter carrying on in the name of the Rapture Family than anyone else. Your ADAM infused body is the perfect vessel. You are the only logical choice."

With that, Doctor Lamb turned and strode away back to her office, the only sounds were her heels click-clacking on the dark hard floor of the cold dark facility.

Eleanor, let her hands drop from the glass, her eyes brimming with tears. She would not let them fall, because her mother was truly no longer her family and only family should ever see you cry. Instead she turned away and walked back to her bed, lying down to sob quietly into her pillow. She didn't care if her mother...if Lamb saw her crying, let her think what she wanted. That was all she ever did, think and not feel.

...Father...where are you…?

~MANY FATHOMS AWAY: ATLANTIC EXPRESS TRAIN STATION~

Delta opened his eyes, his vision clearing and he felt the cool air on his face, his vision coming into sharp focus as he looked to find two figures standing over him as he lay on a mattress on the floor. The first was an older woman, who looked to be in her 50's a face he knew well, for she had been there in the beginning during his transformation from man to Big Daddy: Doctor Brigid Tenenbaum. "Herr Delta...be still, you are still injured und I am healing your injuries but it will take time. She brought you here to me." She looked across to the other figure, and Delta did the same, his body stiffening as he saw the eerie glowing yellow viewport of a Big Sister.

"Daddy…" came the voice from within, sounding sad and afraid. What did she have to fear? His next thought was, and where's Eleanor...I sense her but why can't she hear my thoughts…

He watched as she reached up with both hands, unhooking two hoses from the base of her helmet, the air escaping with a loud hiss, She grasped the sides of her helmet and gave a quick twist, the locks coming away as clamps sprung away from the collar with twin clicks. She lifted her helmet off slowly, her hands shaking.

Delta saw long blonde hair falling out of the lip of the helmet, followed by pale skin and at last he looked up into the face of a beautiful young girl, who looked to be about 17 years old. However he was surprised to find that she stared back at him not with yellow eyes, but with blue eyes, which were red from crying. "Sssssaaahhhhlaahhhnn" Delta tried to speak, his voice shaky and the girl took his large gloved hand in her own, her grasp was firm as she stared into his eyes.

"Yes Daddy, it's me...Selene…"


	4. Just a girl

Delta felt the familiar sensation of his daughter Eleanor within his mind once more, and he could sense Eleanor's simultaneous joy and shame. Joy that she was seeing her sister once more, shame that it had been more than 10 years since they both had.

She remained silent, sending her relief through their bond that her father was alive. They listened as Dr. Tenenbaum spoke quietly, "Herr Delta...I was attempting to contact you through your suit's radio, but I wasn't able to get through, und I suspect that someone may have been jamming the signal...but I don't believe it was Sophia Lamb."

At the mention of Lamb, Selene winced, looking down. Delta looked back at her and squeezed her hand. He knew there was much she had to say, and they knew she would tell her tale in time, but for now they stared at each other for a while, much going unspoken, much yet to be expressed.

Bridgid smiled, though it was a sad smile and they listened as she summarized her journey. Her discovery of ADAM and the creation of EVE and Plasmids and Tonics through her work with Frank Fontaine. Her work with Andrew Ryan. Her guilt at what she had done to the first generation of Little Sisters.

Eleanor wiped her eyes, seeing the older woman in a new light, her own preconceptions now put in doubt. This woman was much like herself. A prisoner of noble intentions, unable to escape from Rapture...not fully.

Tenenbaum continued, administering more Med-Kits to Delta, helping in his recovery. "Fontaine brought Andrew Ryan's son back to Rapture...und as his son, Jack, went through the city, I began to see how different he was from his father. Maybe it was the alterations I und Doctor Suchong made to him, but Jack was...kind. He rescued the little ones. Every single time. I listened in on the radio transmissions he was getting from Atlas...and as we now know Atlas was in fact Frank Fontaine."

Delta groaned, sitting up slowly, the pain in his side lessened thanks to Dr. Tenenbaum's care.

"Daddy, please...you're still hurt," Selene frowned as she tried to push Delta back down onto the squeaky mattress Delta moaned low, his eyes narrowing in question.

Brigid turned and walked to a desk nearby, busying herself as she gave the Big Sister and the Big Daddy some privacy. Smiling to herself as she wrote in a notebook.

Delta smiled, his lips dry but he still managed to be happy despite his injury and the overall direness of the situation.

"I guess you want to know what happened to me, huh…" Selene smiled ruefully as she continued, her gaze becoming distant as she cast her mind into the past…

_I was caught soon after I crawled out of the vent on the other side, but it wasn't the mean Angels, it was a man in a white coat who talked funny.._.

"_You girl, very small, shouldn't be alone out here! Suchong take you now, you come along!"_

_I tried to fight, but the big strange man hit me, it made me cry but he didn't seem to care. I was taken to a large room...there were strange beds and lots of wires and glowing machines. There were lots of other men in white and they took me and strapped me to table. It was very cold and I was very scared._

"_Yes, this girl all alone now, her Big Daddy dead...we experiment on her, we alter her, change her...train her. She become next generation." _

_I tried to scream for help, for you to hear me, Daddy, but they stuck a needle in my arm and I went to sleep._

_It was horrible...they kept giving me needles and I got powers and they kept me alone. They said if I didn't do what they told me they would bring Eleanor in and shoot her and then they said they'd shoot you in front of me too!_

_They kept making me use my new powers...throwing flames and targets and moving heavy things without touching them. Over time they would bring me a dead Splicer and let me take his ADAM. After a while I noticed that I was getting stronger. I could throw more fire and move larger things, more than one thing before long. _

_I never saw any other Little Sisters, I only ever saw the men in white and that strange talking man always watching me through a big window. _

_I lost track of time, almost every day they made me run and jump and get stronger, and the more I did, the less I talked...and I guess I forgot how. They made me so mad, this wasn't right! All I did was scream at them._

_One day, I noticed I was bigger, taller. I realized I was older. I missed you and Eleanor, I never stopped thinking about you._

_It had been a long time since I saw the strange talking man, but I never asked what happened to him. There weren't as many guys in white around, but then I saw a lady. She took the place of the strange talking man. She wore glasses and she looked mean...cold. I never got to meet her, but I heard the other men talking about her sometimes. They called her Doctor Lamb...the Mother._

_There was one day when something really bad happened. I was lying down in my room, thinking about a nursery rhyme when all of a sudden there was a loud boom and my room shook. My door clicked open but I was scared to go out. They always came to get me. Still, I went outside and saw some bad Angels...they were shooting the men in white. I screamed loud and charged at them. It wasn't because they were killing the men in white, I hate the men in white too, but it was because I was mad at them. To me, all the Angels were evil, they wanted to hurt us all, my Sisters. I'd never let that happen again!_

_I flung my hands at them and used my powers, and I felt a surge of joy as the first man screamed as he caught on fire and ran away back down the hallway. The second guy tried to shoot me with his gun but my other hand sent a wash of white to freeze him, his scream cut off as I leapt up and kicked him in the head, shattering his body to pieces. I saw red, I was so angry and I saw myself in a window and I stopped. I gasped as I saw it was my eyes that were red, glowing red! I blinked fast as I shied away from the window...what had they done to me? It was just another reason I was getting madder. _

_I ran fast, flinging the bad guys away with a flick of my hand, freezing and burning, smashing and screaming. It was all a blur that day and when I stopped I wasn't in that place anymore, I was at a huge window and outside I saw Rapture. It was darker than I remembered. I was lucky enough to remember the name of the city. I still remembered you and Eleanor, but it was getting harder. _

_I turned away from the city and raised my hands, I remember seeing that cold woman. She was standing there, as if nothing was wrong. She talked to me...she told me things...she told me she wanted me to do some things for her and after I was done she'd le4t me go and I could find you and Eleanor. _

_She took me to a different place...called it Persephone. She gave me new clothes...this suit. She told me I had to go up to the surface and start bringing down other little girls. I didn't want to, but she said if I didn't I'd never see you again. They way she spoke your name, it sounded like she really really hated you. I wanted to see you again, I never missed you more than I did right then. So I did what she wanted._

_A lot of time passed and it became second nature to me to take little girls right out of their rooms in their homes on the coast. Sometimes I'd be seen, but I would just take the girls. I was always angry, but I always felt like I was missing something. I guess over time my memories of you and Eleanor got fuzzier and fuzzier._

_I only came to know that I need to kill the Splicers, to protect the little girls, my new Little Sisters. Part of me inside knew that what I was doing was wrong, but all those years of conditioning warped me. Twisted me, until that voice was just a whisper. _

Delta reached up with his left hand, gently patting her face with his fingers. Though he was unable to really speak, he could convey his forgiveness. Selene, blinks as tears threatened, very much ashamed of her past.

"How can you look at me, Daddy...I became a monster…" she turned away as she continued on.

"I was found by Doctor Tenenbaum soon after she returned to Rapture...she somehow knew I had been the very first Big Sister. She helped me...undid much of Dr. Lamb's conditioning. She saved me from myself." Selene paused to wipe her eyes, her hands shaking. Deep down she was still scared that Delta, her Daddy, would leave her because of all the bad things she had done, including causing him to fall and get hurt so bad earlier.

"She didn't know I knew you though, not until I brought you to her. She had found out that I had been enslaved by Dr. Suchong, told me who he was and she told me about Dr. Lamb, but she didn't say much about her. I sometimes get the feeling that she's hiding something from me…"

Selene sighed, carefully running her left hand through her blonde hair, swallowing the lump in her throat. "So she got me to keep going around Rapture, killing the Splicers, finding where the Little Sisters were so she could rescue them. She couldn't get me to do that myself because if word got back to Lamb...well…" Delta nodded, blinking his dry eyes, glad to have the air of the station on his face even though he must not have been a good sight, too afraid to look at himself in a mirror. Eleanor had been listening intently via their link, hugging her knees as she wiped her eyes, feeling so sorry for her fellow sister. So that is what had happened to Selene. After her mother had Delta killed, she too was locked away. To think that for so many years they were subjected to such awful experimentation, both of them changed for different yet no less horrifying reasons. **Father...I don't think it would be wise to let her know too much about me yet...if she learns that mother had you killed or that she and I are mother and daughter...please, just find me and when you do I will tell her everything.**

Delta mentally nodded, still listening to Selene as she told her tale. "Dr. Tenenbaum had made a modification to my helmet, letting the outside world still see me as a fearsome Big Sister, even though she had changed my eyes back to normal. She made colored lights that would trigger with my screams. In the last two months I've been able to fool Lamb. I kept in touch with Tenenbaum.

"Then I saw you...and I watched you and the more I saw you and heard you, the more I remembered. I was still so mad, and I directed that anger at you. I-" she cut herself off, wiping her eyes again.

Delta frowned and he took his other daughter's smaller gloved hand in his, guiding it to his face and he reached up and once more rested his own fingers on her cheek. Selene trembled, her loose blond hair falling in front of her face as it had all those years ago when they met. "I'm so sorry again...I hate Dr. Lamb and Suchong for what they did do me! I hate them! I'll kill them!"

Brigid Tenenbaum turned from her notes, gasping as she saw everything not bolted down was levitating into the air, Selene's anger fueling her already powerful telekinesis, or TK as she and those in the scientific community of Rapture had come to call it. "Selene, stop!" she cried as she stood and Selene jerked up, and in a flurry everything flung away from her with great force.

Delta held her hands, shaking his head up at her and they both turned as they saw a suitcase strike Brigid. The older woman grunted as she was hurled back into the metal sliding gate over the window of the ticket booth.

Selene rushed over to her as she cried out "oh no! Brigid are you alright? I'm so stupid! I shouldn't have I just…" she trailed off as Tenenbaum stood and straightened her skirt. "I'm fine, really...but I think we should soon be moving away from the train station...there may be many splicers heading here."

No sooner had she finished, when there came a tremendous crash outside, the metal sliding gates over the ticket booth windows shuddering in their frames. The other little ones who had been huddling on the other side of the room covered their ears, knowing better than to scream and alert the Splicers.

As they listened though, a voice sounded around them suddenly, through the Public Announcement system of Rapture. "So...it is you, Subject Delta...I have seen and heard much through your helmet. I won't let you get to my daughter...she's mine, not yours...MINE! Big Daddies Epsilon and Kappa...kill them all! They are traitors to the Rapture Family!"

Delta felt it before hearing it...they all felt it...the heavy *thump-thump-thump* of Big Daddies outside the ticket booth.


	5. For the little ones

Delta growled as he stood, the once throbbing ache in his side now little more than a dull irritation. Selene grabbed her helmet, switching off the lights since Lamb apparently now knew she was normalized. Brandishing her weaponized needle, she stood by her Daddy, determined to protect him, to make up for everything.

**Father...please be careful….**

Delta smiled as he put his helmet back on, glad that his daughter was safe, far away from the danger, and yet he turned to regard Selene, his other daughter. It was obvious she could handle herself, yet he also knew she was very emotionally volatile.

Delta heard more banging as the two enemy Big Daddies struck the booth, and he held up his free hand as he revved up his drill, warning Dr. Tenenbaum to stay put along with her little ones.

"Nrrrghhh…" he bellowed, checking his drill's fuel and surprised that it was full, turning once more to Selene and realizing she must have filled it for him when he had been unconscious. She really was trying to make up for injuring him and for failing to be someone other than just another slave to Lamb. If only she knew… He quickly shook his head as he lumbered forward, thinking it best not to dwell on what might happen just yet.

Selene stood by the door, nodding to her Daddy and he gestured with his hand, using his TK to unlock and cause the door to swing open. Selene let loose an ear splitting screech as she bounded out, charging at one of the two enemy Big Daddies.

Leaping up high as soon as she was outside the booth, she landed atop the Daddy's shoulders and unleashed a powerful torrent of flames upon the Alpha Series Daddy. He tried to shake her off, bringing his arms up to knock her off, but as Delta and the other Big Daddy watched, a wondrous thing happened.

The flames generated from Selene's hand, from her plasmids, from her very rage, turned a bright white, they burned hotter than the sun for scant moments, yet thats all they needed as the Big Daddy screamed. Everyone, from the freed Little Sisters huddling behind Tenenbaum, to the doctor herself, to Delta, to Eleanor through their mental link, to the enemy Daddy, stared in shock.

Doctor Lamb also stood in shock, he mouth agape as she stared at her flickering monitor, still able to see through Delta's helmet camera. No one had ever heard a Big Daddy scream like that, bellows of rage and frustration, certainly, but such a tortured scream of pain and anguish…

Selene leapt clear of the melted lump that had once been a Big Daddy. His entire upper torso was a smoldering glowing lump, his head and shoulders and arms gone, a ring of ashes around his boots. The body, or rather, the half body, fell forward, onto its knees and the ashes puffed up into a cloud as what remained hit the dirty tiled floor of the train station.

Delta snapped out of it, growling as he tried to swing his drill at the remaining Big Daddy. The second Big Daddy was also quick to shake off his shock as he sidestepped Delta's strike, opening fire at Selene with his gatling gun. The thunderous automatic fire peppered the walls of the station as Selene nimbly dodged, taking cover behind a large chunk of the ceiling which had long since fallen.

Tenenbaum rushed quickly to close the door, fearing for her little ones. Delta swung his drill once more, catching the Big Daddy on his oxygen tank. The Daddy pitched sideways, the ruptured tank violently decompressing. The loud hiss and force of air escaping, combined with the Daddy's swift retaliatory strike to Delta with his fist, sent Delta tumbling back against the wall, grunting as he impacted and left a crack in the cement.

The Big Daddy's gunfire went wild as he swung in an uncontrolled pivot. Selene watched as her Daddy was knocked back and she tensed to spring since the enemy's gun was pointed away, but as she watched, she screamed, her scream joined by others. Smaller ones.

Brigid was hurled back into the booth, the door half closed as her abdomen was peppered with crimson. "BRIGID!" Selene lunged, sprinting at the door and she came to kneel beside the doctor, yanking off her helmet as she quickly pressed her hands to Tenenbaum's stomach, trying to stop the bleeding. "What do I do, oh god what do I do?" she cried as she cried, her fine youthful face twisted into anguish.

Brigid Tenenbaum, discoverer of ADAM, accomplice to the monsters Ryan and Fontaine, smiled up at Selene, raising a shaky hand up to caress her face as she whispered…

"Take the...little ones….home…." she breathed, her hand dropping away as she took one last breath and her chest didn't rise again.

The former Little Sisters clustered around Selene and she carefully removed her needle, pulling the 6 little girls into her arms as they cried together.

Meanwhile, Delta roared, lumbering to his feet as he used his TK to hurl a large chunk of concrete into the side of the enemy Big Daddy. Switching to his rivet gun, he opened fire, pulling the trigger as fast as he could. The Daddy roared as well, but in pain as the hot rivets tore into his torso. He tried to fire, but his gatling gun had become a mangled wreck, probably from the rock Delta had telekinetically hurled at him. Using the wreck as a shield, he tried to advance toward Delta. Delta kept up his assault, using his TK to hurl debris at the Big Daddy when he would be forced to reload. He was not aware he had been walking toward the Big Daddy until he was close enough to ram his drill through the fellow Alpha's viewport in his helmet, which he promptly did after wrenching the wrecked gun away. Blood flowed around Delta's drill, as well as sparks.

The ruptured oxygen tank was still a bit full and the sparks caught the flammable air just as Delta kicked the dying Daddy away with one big boot. The Daddy flailed as he gurgled his death cry, flames consuming his body. He toppled over, onto a puddle, the water putting out the flames.

Delta reached up to the small protrusion coming out of his helmet, his helmet camera and he tore it off.

Lamb shook as she stood before her desk, before the monitor as she watched Subject Delta come into view, staring back at her. Delta felt such hatred for the woman who helped take his life, who took Eleanor and Selene from him. He could feel Eleanor's anger through their link as well, no less potent.

Delta shook his fist at the camera, turning it to let Lamb look at the charred remains of both former Alpha Series Big Daddies she had sent to kill them all.

Turning the camera back to himself, Delta roared before dropping the camera and crushing it under his right foot.

As the screen showed static, Sophia Lamb fell back onto her chair, gritting her teeth. "Damn you, Subject Delta...but I saw what you saw...Tenenbaum will die." She trembled, reaching out to shut off the monitor, letting out a shaky breath as she sat in the dim light of her dilapidated office, wondering how things could have gone so wrong so fast.

Delta walked back into the ticket office, tucking away his weapons and he carefully crouched behind Selene and the other former Little Sisters. Delta let a low mournful cry escape his tortured throat, a cry of sorrow as he gently embraced the girls, trying his best to be a comforting presence.

Eleanor bit her bottom lip, sniffling as she wiped her eyes. She had known very little of Brigid Tenenbaum, but she still felt her Father's sorrow for Selene. How many people had to die for her mother's insane ambition? Eleanor shivered and her anger grew again. Mother had tried to have Father and Selene killed. How dare she, how dare she try to kill her Father, her sister!

**Father, please, you must escape the train station...there are sure to be many Splicers heading there and you and Selene can't fight in your current conditions, not that many…**

Delta nodded ~yes, you're right, we must get out of here….~ he thought back to her, standing as he gently nudged at Selene to get her attention.

Selene wiped her eyes, turning to look up at her Daddy, her anguish broke his heart. How easily she had become attached to Brigid Tenenbaum, a surrogate mother to her in the short time she had known her. He reached down and gently tugged her up by her arm, pointing with his thumb back outside the ticket booth.

Selene understood and she sniffled, wiping her eyes as she started to rise, getting the attention of the other little girls clustered around them. "Girls, we have to go, please, we have to go with Daddy, it's not safe here anymore," she said quietly, her voice cracking as she fought back more tears.

"D-daddy?" asked one of the little girls, who stood near Delta, holding up an Audio Diary. He reached down, taking it from her gently and he tucked it away, knowing they would have time to listen to it on the train, but not yet.

Delta held his hand up as they heard the sound of shouting and footsteps fast approaching.

Selene balled her hands into fists, and were she still able to, she would welcome her red glowing eyes.

Delta stood firm, resting his right hand on her shoulder, conveying to her that she needed to stay and guard Brigid's body as well as the little girls. He would go and clear the way for them. Although his face could not been seen any longer, just the glowing football shaped viewport of his helmet, Selene knew what he was expressing. Continued sorrow mixed with resoluteness to protect his daughter and the little girls.

He got out his rivet gun, turning to head out, making sure to shut the door. Just to make sure, he took another EVE hypo and used his TK to levitate a large chunk of concrete against the door. No one short of a Brute or Big Daddy would be able to move it.

He turned, aiming for the doorway and he set some trap rivets and waited for them to come.  
"There's the Daddy, get 'im!" shouted the lead Splicer. Delta opened fire while he was still talking, peppering the small crowd with white hot rivets. They dove for cover, though the ones in the rear were not as lucky, screaming as they went down, small plumes of red appearing on their twisted dirty clothed bodies.

Delta saw that they kept coming in groups of 3 or 4, climbing up the elevator shaft that Selene must have taken him up by. He was not tiring, yet he quickly came to realize, as he held a steel grate before him as a shield with his free hand, that Eleanor was right, he couldn't fend off all these Splicers and protect the girls. He checked his stock of EVE and snarled, tucked away his rivet gun.

Turning to half face the door, he wrenched the concrete slab away, hurling it at a trio of Splicers that huddled behind one of the benches of the station. Delta roared as he felt the stabbing of gunfire on his sides, his vision turning pink. Some of the Splicers had managed to get on either side of him and caught him in their crossfire. He guided the slab with his power, the force turning the Splicers behind the bench into a smear of red. He endured the gunfire still, using his TK to shove the slab into the large hole in the wall some of the Spicers had been using to enter the station.

Spotting a red barrel near the Splicers at his rear, he pivoted quickly, crouching to minimize himself as a target and fired, several *chinks* of his rivet gun sending the barrel exploding and the Splicers scattering, many of whom now missed limbs.

Turning back to the remaining group of Splicers, he readied his drill, taking a couple of Med Kits as he walked towards them. They were armed only with pistols but still they kept shooting.

Before he got too close, he turned as he heard the screech of Selene, who dashed out of the booth madly, leaping high to plunge her needle into the eye socket of the Splicer nearest to her.

"Jesus Christ!" cried the leader, his face exposed as he had stumbled back. He turned to look at Delta, his gruesome face twisted in fear and sporting many boils and scars.

Delta leaned to the side as if to say, "yeah, that's right…" before plunging his drill into the man's gut. The Splicer screamed as he was lifted off the ground, blood splattering the floor and he gurgled as he died and went limp. Selene had since gone to get the girls and moments later they all came out and headed to the train.

Selene stood on the other side of the girls who walked in a quiet line, ushering them on, distracting them from the bodies littering the station. Luckily the remaining Splicers had fled earlier when Delta had eviscerated their leader.

"Keep looking ahead, yes that's it girls...we're almost to the train!" Selene said encouragingly. Delta smiled through his helmet. He was amazed at how she could often them seem so very caring and kind as she was when they met, and yet still be capable of killing.

Eleanor was also watching through her father's eyes, smiling to herself. She knew that it was perhaps inevitable that Selene would learn that Eleanor was in fact Eleanor Lamb, daughter of the woman she despised, yet seeing her looking over her charges, the former 6 Little Sisters with such protectiveness, she felt nothing but hope for her sister.

Delta busied himself with firing off the last of his trap rivets, in case any more Splicers were coming.

He checked as saw he had only 1 EVE hypo and 1 Med Kit left, but he decided to keep it to himself for now. He was glad that the bond he and Eleanor shared was one which required concentration to read each other's thoughts, especially at such a great distance.

He was also beginning to sense that as he neared the mysterious location she was being kept prisoner, he was able to sense her better. As if they were each biological homing devices.

Soon he, Selene and the 6 former Little Sisters, were on their way, although they had no real idea where to go. Delta took the Audio Diary he had been given, and he turned it on, his guess confirmed that it was indeed made by Doctor Tenenbaum.

"Herr Delta...I am making this recording while my little ones sleep and Selene is away gathering supplies. She told me about you, and what she told me showed me that you are very different than the Big Daddy I und Suchong had tried to turn you into. I know now that you are more than just Eleanor's protector. You are her father, as you have become to Selene. There was someone I was coming to help, but if you are hearing this, my mission must be postponed because I am dead.

I have tried to make up for my role I played in Rapture's downfall, in the creation of the Little Sisters and the Big Daddies, I can only hope that now, if you hear me, my death had meaning.

Now you must find Augustus Sinclair, I have taken the liberty to program the frequency into your helmet's radio, he will guide you through Rapture. I only wish I was there to guide you myself. Please...Selene, I know you are there with Herr Delta...und I know you are sad for me, but you must be strong. Take the little ones home. I left another Diary with Sinclair that will tell you how to get them out of the city safely and he also knows a way. Please, get them out of this nightmare...und Godspeed, Herr Delta."

Selene wipe her eyes, standing up straighter, taking a deep breath, Delta facing her and the girls and he switched on his radio. There was a buzz of static and a man spoke to them:

"Well hello there, my name is Augustus Sinclair, sir, esquire..."


	6. Little girls, little time

It has been a couple of hours since Delta and the girls had been in communication with Sinclair. They had since rendezvoused with him outside Ryan Amusements.

He hadn't reacted well upon seeing Selene come into view out of the train, clad as she was in full Big Sister armor and helmet.

Delta had stopped the train, gesturing with his hand that the girls should stay put while he secured the area. Stepping out, he kept his rivet gun at the ready, looking around the platform. The vacant security booth was across the way, dimly lit. He spied a door to his right, somehow knowing that's where Sinclair was, locked in that room. He guessed it was some sort of storage room, but even though he trusted the late Tenebaum that Sinclair was on the level, he still approached cautiously.

No doubt the man could hear and feel his footsteps, as with all Big Daddies, and he stopped and tucked away his weapon as a show of good intentions. He did not know if Brigid had been in contact with Augustus, but given that she entrusted him with another Audio Diary as well as their fates without help, he would put his trust in the man now as well. It was for the sake of Eleanor, the sake of Selene and the sake of the other former Little Sisters.

Delta knocked three times, as he used to do to coax Eleanor out of her vents all those years ago, and Eleanor smiled as she sensed his remembrances through the link.

**I hope you know what you're doing, Father… ** She thought to him and he smiled as he thought back ~as do I, Eleanor~ and stepped back as the door slid up and open.

"Well hello there, sport," said the suave businessman. Missing a suit jacket, he was otherwise un-intimidating and average. Sporting a slicked back hairdo, he smiled as he stepped out of his hideaway.

Delta stood still, his hands lowered as he listened to Sinclair speak.

"So, partner, I heard that Tenenbaum wanted me to help you out, it seems you're looking for someone?" he asked, in his oddly accented yet charismatic tone.

Delta nodded as Sinclair continued on, "well, I'll be inclined to help you, but I'm a bit surprised to see that Brigid isn't here with you."

The Big Daddy sighed, letting a low saddened moan escape his throat, and he figured it was about time to introduce his daughter and the other girls. Turning to the train, he beckoned to the girls and they carefully exited the train one by one. Sinclair watched them, smiling, being careful not to make any sudden moves since Delta was only a few feet away.

His face lost all color as he saw Selene come out of the train, his eyes widened as he turned and dashed back into his room, slapping at the control to the door.

Delta waved, trying to assure the man that the Big Sister was on their side and he dove and caught the sliding door, grunting as he forced it back up into the alcove. There was a sputtering of sparks as the mechanism working the door broke. The Big Daddy winced in his helmet, lowering his arms apologetically.

"Whoa there, easy...maybe I over reacted yeah?" Sinclair said as he stood against the back wall.

Selene meanwhile stood outside the room, on guard, watching the opposite end of the platform which led up to Ryan Amusements. Turning as her Daddy grunted, she saw he wanted her to come and she nodded, stepping into the smaller room, her hands spread in a "I'm not going to hurt you" manner.

She slowly removed her helmet, smiling at the businessman. He stood straighter, straightening his pants once he saw how pretty she was. "Hello, Mister Sinclair, my name is Selene...but I forgot my last name because..well...but anyway, I just wanted to tell you that...I-I'm sorry but Brigid died not too long ago."

Augustus stepped away from the wall, all trace of apprehension gone from him as he walked up to Delta and Selene and asked, "how?"

Selene swallowed the lump in her throat as she began to explain Brigid's death. She talked about how she bravely tried to shut the door to the ticket office, how Delta's battle with one of the Big Daddies resulted in her being shot in the stomach. How Delta had killed the Big Daddy and how Selene herself had held the other girls as they cried, mourning for the loss of the doctor.

"I see...well, that's just so sad, she was a good woman and even until the end she tried to help the Little Sisters." Augustus wiped his eyes, straightening up as he continued, "but now, we gotta get the other girl and get the hell out of here."

Delta nodded his consensus and turned, beckoning the 6 other little girls into the smaller store room.

They came in slowly, clustered together, eyeing Sinclair from afar. He smiled and got down on one knee, his arms held out peacefully. "Hey there, little darlin's, my name's Augustus Sinclair...I was a good friend to Brigid, and I promise I'll help get you girls back home, for her."

Slowly the girls walked closer and they smiled, and one by one they stepped forward and introduced themselves.

The youngest one, a girl about 5 with brown hair, waved, tugging on her sky blue dress. "H-hi, I'm Melody."

The next girl, who seemed about the same age, attired in a red dress with purple trim and who had black hair, was next. "I'm Julie...nice to meet you Augu...Aguh...mister Sinclair." Sinclair chuckled at that, earning a smile from the little girl.

Next up was the third girl, the one who had given Delta the Audio Diary. She was a bit older, about 7, maybe 8, wearing a white dress with golden flowers on it. She had red hair and freckles and when she spoke it was with a soft scottish accent. "Hello, I'm Mary," she said as she curtsied. Augustus nodded and smiled as he said "my, that's a pretty dress, just like all the others."

Mary giggled, stepping aside as the fourth girl stepped forward, her black shoes click-clacking on the dirty tiles. She was one of the only 2 with shoes, the other girls still barefoot or wearing socks. Her dress was a soft purple, and she spoke with a German accent. "I'm Angela, hello."

Sinclair smiled and nodded, looking over at Selene who was also smiling, her happiness touching her vibrant blue eyes.

The second to last girl was clearly of Iceland, and the oldest at about 9 years, and she wore her black dress with red stripes crisscrossing it with a fine dignity that was beyond her years. "Hi, I'm Sherry, you have a nice tie." Sinclair nodded, straightening it as best he could as he said "why thank you dear, a gentleman always tries to make himself presentable."

The last girl stepped forward, the only other one with shoes, these ones a refined plastic of a dark red color. Her stocking clad feet led up to her dark purple dress which was more of a crushed velvet and she appeared to be about the same age as Sherry, her blonde hair done up in pigtails.

"Hello, I'm Kate, but I used to be called Katie by my friends at the orphanage, it's nice to meet you, sir."

She spoke with a british accent, very similar to Eleanor's, as Delta listened, he smiled. ~She sounds like you did when you were little, though a bit different, she must be from a different part of England~

Eleanor smiled as she lay in bed, her eyes closed as she saw through her father's. **Yes Father, but I don't remember my life before Rapture, I guess I was still very young when mother brought me down here. I wonder where she's from exactly, but I hope I get to ask her myself soon...please, keep them safe and hurry to find me, Father.**

Sinclair smiled still as he stood, brushing his knees. "Well now, I reckon that we better be on our way, but as you all saw earlier, there's ice blockin' our way out there."

He walked to Delta, nodding at the other end of the platform at the door leading to Ryan Amusements, not noticing as Selene quietly left the store room, slipping by. "Up yonder there we used to have-" He was interrupted as they all heard a *whoosh* and they went out and saw Selene had melted the ice with her Incinerate plasmid.

"Ah well I'll be dipped in honey, I shoulda known she'd have Incinerate already."

The girls clapped and smiled and Selene turned and jogged back to her Daddy and the others. "Look, now was can go, Daddy!" she smiled as she took his hands and tugged him toward the train.

Sinclair cleared his throat, getting their attention. "Actually, girly, you can't, not yet, here…"

He went back into his hideout and came back out, holding the Audio Diary. Delta walked over and took it, turning it on. Before it started, he heard Selene mutter, "Oh yeah, I forgot about that…"

"_Augustus, by now you have heard that I am dead, und I am very sorry for this. Now you must listen. Herr Delta is there with you, along with Selene, but please do not be scared of her. While it is true she lost herself, I have helped her to find herself again. Herr Delta is also there, und he has to find Eleanor, his bonded former Little Sister. _

_Herr Delta, Eleanor is being held beneath Fontaine Futuristics, in a prison called Persephone. It is a place Augustus knows well, but I will leave it to him to tell you. I implore you to continue my mission, please...find the remaining little ones. There should be 14 left along your journey to the prison. Selene, I have given you a present, your needle can let you take ADAM out of the other Big Sisters and through the ADAM, you will gain their memories of where each Little Sister was taken from. You can then take them all home. Sinclair has a lifeboat, und I have already taken steps to ensure that Rapture's defenses will not impede your escape to the surface._

_You must survive, Selene, to take the little ones home. Herr Delta, you must survive as well, you must rescue Eleanor, she cannot be allowed to become Doctor Lamb's last grand experiment...just another twisted soul that this cursed city has claimed. I have done much evil, and for that I shall always be sorry, even in death. Herr Delta, Selene, Augustus...my little ones...goodbye, und good luck."_

As the Diary clicked off, Selene wiped her eyes, resting her hands gently on her little sister's shoulders. They sniffled, wiping their eyes. Mary looked out the window at the murky depths as a school of fish swam by. "Home…." Slowly each of them looked up at Selene, smiling sadly, yet there was a new spark in their eyes, the spark that Selene felt when she saw Delta. Hope.

Delta gave the Diary back to Sinclair, pressing his left hand to his chest and then pointing toward the park. Though he could not speak, he managed to convey that he would be going on alone, both to acquire his own plasmid of Incinerate and to rescue the Little Sisters.

"No Daddy, please, let me come with you!" pleaded Selene, her beautiful face twisting in worry.

She held onto his right arm, chewing her bottom lip and he sighed, gently poking her tummy, and then gesturing broadly to the others. He then pointed up at the broken door to the store room. There was no way they could close it again and so someone would have to stay to guard Sinclair and the girls. He gently caressed her face, saying in his own way that she was the only one who could do it, the only one he could trust. She teared up, hugging him tightly. Lifting his rivet gun, he hugged her in return with his left arm. "Please...be careful, Daddy...I don't want to lose you again." **Nor do I… **thought Eleanor to her Father.

Delta turned, nodding to Sinclair and the little girls who waved to him, clustering around the businessman. "We'll have more to talk about, but go on, sport, and be careful," he said as he nodded back to the Alpha series.

Delta turned and started walking, checking his ammo as the heavy *thump thump thump* of his boots echoed through the train platform. Selene stood near the others, wiping her eyes, determined to protect them, and as Delta walked up the steps and the door slid closed, she clenched her jaw, swearing she wouldn't let her Daddy down, not ever again.

**** AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi everyone, hopefully you have been enjoying my first story I've written in years. This is the halfway point. I always intended for this story to be 12 chapters long. Thank you for those who have offered feedback to me. An author always enjoys hearing from the fans of their work. The first few chapters had a fair bit of past event recollections, but that was to better establish some back story and aid with character development. I hope I did good! I'll be making the chapters about the same length as the others, and the only reason I made this one the shortest was because I wanted to make this note and also plan out the rest of the story. I already have some ideas and I hope my readers like what I have planned. See you in the next chapter! ^.^ ****


	7. Big Sister, small problem

Sophia Lamb stared at her static filled monitor, her hands shaking. What if, she wondered, what if Subject Delta managed to make it here, to Persephone. What if that wretched girl Selene also made it here. She was twice as powerful as Subject Delta and far more emotionally volatile. It had seemed that it was only her years of training and subjugation that had tempered her apparent emotional immaturity. Now that she no longer had any restraint, save that of Subject Delta, what would stop her from sinking the prison into the depths.

Clicking on the city-wide P.A, or Public Announcement System, she spoke with her professional demeanor despite her anger.

"Attention, Subject Delta is in Ryan Amusements, he is not alone, but we are the Rapture Family. We are many, they are few. Subject Delta must not be allowed to proceed. Eliminate him and his allies at all costs."

Clicking off the P.A system, she let out a sigh. Such a waste, she thought, condemning the former Little Sisters that Brigid Tenenbaum had rescued to an early death. Ah but then, she remarked to herself coldly, plenty more where they came from…

_Meanwhile, a great distance away:_

Delta grunted as he was struck by gunfire, growling as he returned fire, crouching low to minimize himself as a target. The Splicers nearby hooted and laughed as they fired, one with a pistol, the other with a Thompson Machine gun, more commonly known as a Tommy Gun.

Delta flung his left hand forth, using his TK to fling a trash can at the tommy gun splicer, who dove out of the way, swearing as he rolled across the wide open floor.

Concentrating his fire, he took out the pistol splicer, grunting in satisfaction as the grotesque man fell to the floor dead following his final outcry of pain.

Delta wasted no more time, using his power to pick up the body and hurl it at the tommy splicer with as much force as he could muster.

"Oof!" cried the splicer as he was hit by the body, his arms pinwheeling as he howled, having pitched over the railing and being sent plummeting to his death down in a large fire on the lower floor.

Delta walked to the railing, leaning over to watch the splicer burn for a brief time. **Father, sometimes I think you enjoy your work too much… **came Eleanor's telepathic voice in his mind. He smiled within his helmet, his amusement apparent to her through their link. Though it was still weak because of the distance that separated them, they could still get an impression of each other's feelings as well as hearing each other's thoughts provided they could concentrate enough. It was because of this concentration requirement that Eleanor and Delta had not been in constant communication, particularly when he was in battle.

According to Sinclair, there was one Little Sister in the park, and he walked along, determined to rescue her.

He soon entered the El Dorado Lounge, spotting one of the Little Sisters with her Bouncer series Big Daddy. He waited until the Big Daddy was in the small dip in the floor that was filled with water before zapping it with Electro-shock.

The Sister shrieked, her little hands flying to her mouth as she watched her protector being electrocuted. Delta used his telekinesis to hurl tables and chair and bottles, pretty much anything he could get his power to levitate. He walked around the small pool, conserving his ammo as he kept up his plasmid assault. Shocking the Daddy, hurling stuff at him, shocking him again.

Luckily Delta had found a few vials of EVE earlier, allowing him to use his two plasmids more. The Big Daddy groaned as he finally fell, never having left the small pool. The Little Sister cried as she stood in the water, nearly up to her knees.

Seeing her standing there, Delta remembered the night he met Selene, how small and timid she was. He slowly approached the Little Sister, who stopped crying and smiled as he neared. "Daddy!" she exclaimed happily, reaching up as he leaned down to lift her onto his shoulder. "You always save me from the monsters!"

He walked out of the lounge, a ping of regret entering his heart. He felt a great sorrow that he had been unable to defend Eleanor...had not seen her grow, been there for her.

He walked along, heading in the direction the Little Sister indicated, where he would find a body in which she could harvest ADAM.

As he walked along, he concentrated, communicating with Eleanor far away. ~My daughter...maybe this isn't the best time...but I want you to know how sorry I am that I couldn't protect you all those years ago. I'm sorry that I could not watch you grow up. I wish I could have been there for you these last ten years. I am just happy to be alive again and I promise, no matter what, we'll be together. Me, you and Selene, we will be together. My daughter...my Eleanor...your mother cannot keep us apart and I swear I will do everything to find you...I love you, Eleanor.~

Eleanor wiped her eyes, swallowing the lump in her throat, feeling his love, his determination through the link. **I love you too, Father...please be safe and look after Selene...we'll have much to talk about after we are together.**

Delta grunted, having found the body and he set the girl down, setting up all his trap rivets strategically.

Soon she was doing her thing as he walked back and forth, listening for the inevitable approach of the splicers. He also used the brief time to hack into the nearby vending machines and resupply. Turning, he used his telekinesis to lift a nearby barrel, flinging it at the first splicer who appeared, one of the thuggish types wielding a pipe. "Gahhhhh!" she cried as she was sent hurtling through the air following the explosion, burning and dead before she hit the floor.

Hearing another splicer trying to flank him, he turned and zapped the man, slamming his drill into the side of his face, knocking away his party mask and dropping him like a rock. Delta revved up his drill, growling as two more splicers jumped off the two staircases leading back up to the main floor. He stood in front of the Little Sister, pivoting as one of the splicers tried to lunge at him, driving his drill into his side. "Yaaahhhh!" screamed the splicer, a crimson plume of blood messing up Delta's drill as he yanked it back quickly, flinging the body away.

Acting fast, he used his TK to snatch the body out of the air and hurl it at the last splicer, who tried to dodge, but got hit in the shoulder by the corpse's legs, sending him sprawling on the floor, landing in the puddle of water close by. "Oh shi-" he started, but his words died and turned into a scream as Delta zapped the water, electrocuting the guy.

Delta looked around, making sure no one else was coming and he picked up the girl, who giggled and injected some of the ADAM into the port on the side of his neck. He felt a tingle as he gained some ADAM, not enough to buy a plasmid, but he was unconcerned, for he knew they were not yet done.

Turning to the main entrance of the car ride part of the place, Delta headed in, making sure the Little Sister was sitting securely. Some time and 7 dead splicers later, they came to the second body, located in a smaller room and like the last area it had two entrances.

Delta set up more trap rivets, as many as he could afford, saving the rest of his scavenged money for Med-Kits and EVE hypos. He set the girl down and took up position, having hacked the turret in the room, which would provide extra cover fire. Soon enough he heard the screams of splicers who were dumb enough to step over the clearly visible trap rivets. Apparently, he mused, Rapture was full of them, of stupid splicers. He opened fire with his rivet gun, sending several hot rivets in a rapid *chink-chink-chink* firing pattern as fast as he could pull the trigger, aiming for their heads.

"Nyrrgghh!" they cried as they died and he zapped a couple more, stepping out away from the wall as he heard the turret explode. One of the splicers who was faster managed to dodge as Delta swung at him with his rivet gun. The Little Sister screamed, "Aaah! Daddy!" and Delta yanked the splicer back, taking his head and snapping his neck and he wasted no time, turning to fire at the explosive barrel at the corner of one of the entrances. It blew in a fiery _KA-BOOM!_

Delta did a little fist pump in a "yesss" gesture of triumph as the sounds of the splicers could be heard no more. The Little Sister giggled as she walked up to him and patted his rubber clad leg. "Daddy is silly!"

He chuckled, which sounded like a series of clicks or leaves rustling in the wind.

Picking up the Sister, he again followed her direction to a vent at the back of a workshop further down the track. Hearing the various recordings of the late Andrew Ryan, he shook his head. Even though his memories of the man he used to be were erased, he still felt a sense of wonderment at Rapture itself, and also pity. How the ideals of one man could pave the way for this nightmare under the sea he would never know. There had been a few good people, trying to fix their mistakes, such as Brigid Tenenbaum, but such people it seemed were as rare as some gene-tonics.

The notion to harvest the Little Sister was one he only gave a single thought to: _never_.

Delta held the little girl in his arms, suddenly wishing it was still Eleanor and Selene. He sighed as he swept his hand down the side of the Little Sister's head, using his restoration plasmid that Tenenbaum had apparently given him while he had been unconscious. She gasped as she glowed with a white light and when the brightness faded, she stood at his feet, looking normal.

"Thank you," she said earnestly as she brought her hands together in a show of gratitude. Delta nodded and pointed in the general direction that Sinclair and Selene and the others were in, and the little girl nodded, apparently already aware of where she was supposed to go.

He stepped back as he watched the girl climb up and disappear into the vent, soon turning to head back up and continue on his way. He felt the familiar buzz of ADAM in his veins, realizing that he had somehow absorbed more turning the Little Sister's rescue and partial conversion back to normal. ~No doubt you have something to do with how the little girl seemed so comfortable with me…~ he thought to Eleanor. **Maybe…** she replied in an amused manner in his mind.

Delta's own mirth quickly subsided as he entered the main level, hearing the approach of more bastardized splicers.

He took aim, using his sight to take quick headshots, the death cries quickly silenced as they crumpled to the ratty floorboards. Delta looted them and continued on his way.

Checking his surroundings, he searched for more resources, soon arriving back at the main area.

Delta headed into the _Hall Of The Future_, glad to be out of the depressing _Journey To The Surface_ part.

In fact, the sooner he left this whole place, the better. He knew Selene was very capable, yet if her past actions were any indication, she was also very emotionally immature, and so he wasn't as much worried for the safety of them as for Sinclair's safety if she lashed out in anger.

Soon enough, after having hacked a turret and letting it take care of a couple of the splicers, he came to a _Gather's Garden_ machine. He bought the plasmid he sought, clenching and unclenching his fists as flames danced across them. Satisfied, he turned to leave in time to see a splicer come out of the shadows.

The splicer lunged and screamed, bashing at him with a rusty pipe, and Delta swung his drill up, knocking the man back and he flung his left hand forth, a plume of flame shooting out and igniting the wretched man's clothes. "Ahhh ahhh fire!" he cried as he turned and ran blindly.

Delta rounded the bend in the hallway, finding the man dead and smoldering in a puddle of melted ice. He entered the small offshoot, finding a model of a kitchen and several clips of rivets. He took them after melting them with his incinerate, feeling a sense that he would be needing them soon enough.

He stopped at the door leading back to the main hall, hearing a loud screech. It was so loud that it hurt his ears, making his vision turn pink for a few moments. He winced, knowing all too well what that sound was.

Delta grunted as a force pulling him at the door, which was breaking, the metal which was supposed to be strong enough to isolate the sections of a building cracking and crumpling like paper. As he hit the door, it whined and was suddenly gone, pulled by the Big Sister's powerful telekinesis.

He could see her, standing on the bench in the middle of the walkway, screeching as various debris including the bent door swirled above her raised arms. Delta opened fire, aiming all his remained trap rivets at the Big Sister, pulling the trigger of his rivet gun and reloading as fast as he could.

The Big Sister screeched again, flinging her hands at him and sending the objects hurtling towards him. He couldn't dodge them all, but he still tried, grunting as he got hit on his injured side by the door.

The Big Sister ran at him, trying to jab him with her large needle, and he swung up his rivet gun, blocking her attack, though barely. He had underestimated how strong these Big Sisters were, not just in terms of their powers, but physical strength.

They must have access to a gene tonic which increased their physical prowess, he thought, grunting as the Sister, sprung up and, placing her hands on his shoulders, flipped herself over him and landed in a crouch behind him.

He turned as fast as he could, caught off guard as a sweeping leg kick from the Big Sister sent him toppling to the dingy white stone tiles.

She stayed in her crouch, again about to stab him right through the viewport with her needle.

He flung up his hand, unleashing his incinerate onto her and she hissed, doubling over momentarily as a shockwave of flames erupted from her body, sending Delta sliding back several feet as the flames licked at his suit. "HNN!" he winced, having noticed now that they also seemed to have some sort of defense wherein when struck by a plasmid they emitted a sort of concussive shockwave of whichever element they were struck with.

He wouldn't be trying that again, knowing it would be best to try take her out from a distance.

Standing as fast as he could, he fired with his rivet gun, trying to keep her in his sights. She screamed again, dashing to her left and flipping off the walkway into the roof of the booth below.

Delta hurried to see where she was, spotting a Med-Kit on the roof of the booth and he extended his arm, using his telekinesis to summon the kit to his grasp.

Delta cried out in pain, his vision going pink as he felt a great pain through his left hand. Looking, he gasped as he saw the needle of the Big Sister sticking up through his glove.

**Father! **

Delta growled, yanking his hand back with such force that the needle snapped off at the base. The Sister shrieked and vaulted up and over the railing she had been hanging from sneakily, cartwheeling behind a wall of flames she made using her own incinerate.

Delta shook as he gripped the needle and pulled it out of his hand. She had managed to impale him right through the port on his palm that allowed him to divulge his plasmids.

He flung the broken needle away, pressing his hand against his hip to try to stop the bleeding.

He had used up his ammo, and all he had now was his half full drill. He growled as he tucked it away in order to use the last of his EVE. ~Do not worry Eleanor, it will take more than this Big Sister to stop me from seeing you, I promise,~ he thought to reassure his distant daughter.

Eleanor meanwhile was trembling, clutching her own hand as she felt his pain, numbed though it was through the distance. She chewed her lower lip, hoping he would be ok and feeling so helpless. _Damn you, mother…_she thought to herself.

Delta used his TK to send a wave of energy from his hand, creating a sort of wind to snuff out the flames hiding the Sister. He found her crouched, seemingly at his mercy. He advanced cautiously and no sooner did he near her when she screamed in triumph and let the large slab of concrete she had been holding above them with her powers drop. Delta looked up and used his good arm to block the slab, bad idea.

He managed to deflect it, but his right arm was now pinned to the bench. So far as he could tell it wasn't broken, but he was in serious shit now.

He growled, defiant in the face of his enemy and he stared up at her. Eleanor stared at her too through his eyes, her own closed ones leaking tears. **Father...no...Father! **

Suddenly, a blur dropped from the ceiling, and the Big Sister's scream was now one of pain as not one, but two needles protruded from her heart. As she fell to her knees, her helmet dimming, Selene growled, trembling with rage as she pulled her needle from her fellow Sister's back, leaving the other one from earlier in her chest.

"No one hurts...my _Daddy!_" she screamed that last word, holding both hands on either side of the dying Big Sister's helmet and there was a sickening _*__crunch_* as the girl's helmet was imploded by Selene's telekinetic powers. Blood leaked out of the mangled mess as the dead Big Sister toppled over dead.

Eleanor gasped, her eyes open as she stared at the wall, new tears of horror streaming down her cheeks as she whispered, "oh my god…" and suddenly Eleanor was having doubts about reuniting with Selene.

"Daddy!" cried Selene, using her power to lift the concrete slab off of his hand and she ran over and knelt before him.

Delta shook, flexing his fingers to make sure his right hand was ok, and he groaned in pain as Selene took her Daddy's hurt left hand and kept pressure on his pierce wound.

She helped him to his feet, aiding him as he walked with her back towards the train platform.

As they walked, he could hear Selene saying, "I'm so sorry Daddy, please, forgive me, I...I didn't come sooner...I left the girls and Mr. Sinclair alone!"

Delta patted her cheek with his hand, reassuring her and she smiled, wiping her eyes.

Some time later, Delta, Augustus, Selene and their charges now numbering 7, were on their way on the train. Selene smiled and laughed as she played with the little girls. As Delta watched, Sinclair stepped back from the controls and watched them with him. "She's a mighty fine beauty there, sport, and I hope she can handle herself well…"

_More than you can imagine… _Delta thought to himself, now sharing the same hesitation as Eleanor, yet he knew in his heart he would have to keep Selene at his side. No matter what they faced next, he would not abandon her or Eleanor or the other little girls, and not even death could keep him from them anymore. He was their Father, their Daddy, and nothing would change that...nothing.

**Nothing,** Eleanor agreed.


	8. The Grace of Fate

_*Screeeeeech!*_

Delta groaned, shaking his head and he turned as he saw the girls and Sinclair covering their ears. "What in the hell…." Sinclair wondered out loud as the train came to a halt outside Pauper's Drop in the train platform. Delta walked to the controls, trying a few of the buttons and switches. He growled, turning away, wishing he could slam his fist onto the console in anger.

"Lamb must have locked down the train...we'll need to get the override key from Grace Holloway. I heard that she's still residing here in Pauper's Drop, in fact in my very own hotel."

Delta nodded at Sinclair, checking his ammunition.

Selene stepped forward, her head held high as she stood straight, a slight trembling of her long blonde hair the only sign that she was feeling nervous.

"I'm going with you this time, Daddy, and I won't take no for an answer," she said to him.

Delta lifted his shoulders and let out a long sigh, knowing he could not discourage her any more.

He turned to Sinclair, nodding his head and the businessman nodded in return as he smiled.

"Oh don't you worry there, sport, ol' Augustus'll hold down the fort!" he proclaimed as the girls behind them giggled.

The one he had rescued earlier stepped forward shyly, tugging on her dirty dark blue dress. "H-hi, I'm S-S-Sandra…" she said in a quiet voice, blinking her blue eyes quickly.

The other girls stepped forward and smiled, each one patting her on the back, taking turns as they told her about Delta, Sinclair and Selene.

Sinclair smiled, digging in his pocket and he brought out 7 sticks of gum, giving one to each of the girls. Selene stood beside Delta, a slight frown creasing her brow as she wondered where her gum was.

"I'm sorry darlin' but I only had seven pieces," Sinclair said apologetically.

Selene nodded and turned, clearly upset but she was trying hard to be more grown up now. As she exited the train car, she looked around, making sure that no one was around to hurt her or Daddy. She hoped he would be ok...first his side, now his hand.

Delta crouched, reaching out and he rested his good hand on the shoulder of their newest member. Patting it softly, he stood and headed off, hearing Sinclair call out a few more things. Perhaps he had been too rash in damaging his helmet when he stepped on his helmet camera. Still, now was not the time to dwell on the past, radio or no radio, he and Selene had a job to do.

Selene followed close behind her Daddy, looking around, her breathing resounding within her helmet. As they entered the connecting chamber leading to Pauper's Drop, three Splicers could be seen looting a dead body on a large slab of stone.

Delta lifted his rivet gun, preparing to kill them before they saw him and his daughter, but before he could fire, all three of them were sent hurling with bone crushing force at the opposite wall.

There was a sickening *_crunch_* as they hit, not having made a sound and they landed in bloody mangled heaps.

Selene lowered her hands, which shook as she struggled to control her anger. She hated them, she hated them all so much.

Delta turned, resting his arm on her shoulder, and she nodded, taking a deep breath and they walked on.

Entering the main area of the Drop, they saw a modest Diner taking up much of the cavernous space. Immediately they drew the attention of a few Splicers nearby and Delta opened fire, aiming for their heads. Selene screeched, leaping up into the nearby newspaper booth and she leapt high, slamming her feet down onto one of the gun wielding splicers he managed to raise his tommy gun and get off a few shots, only a few hit her shoulder as she howled and ripped his weapon from his hands, jabbing her needle into his neck. "Die, evil angel!" she screamed as she yanked her needle back, leaping away to leave the poor bastard to bleed out.

Delta meanwhile took cover behind the stand, reloading and he leaned around the corner, firing at the remaining splicer. "Nrragg!" cried the splicer as he was shot in the torso, his hand still clutching his revolver as he fell dead to the filthy stone floor.

Soon enough, he and Selene walked on, heading around the side of the building after Delta paused to loot the bodies.

Delta stopped, turning to his girl as he held out two small Med-Kits. "Thanks, Daddy," Selene said happily as she took them and healed herself, her voice carrying the smile he could not see.

"_So, you've come around here again, huh Tin Daddy?" _came the voice overhead through the Public Announcement System.

Delta and Selene looks up briefly as Selene muttered, "that must be Grace…" to which Delta grunted as they walked on around the Diner.

"_Well, I see you and one of those Hussy Girls...they don't got souls...Lamb sees to that, but here you come back strolling through my neighborhood? Wrong turn, Tin Daddy!"_

Delta stopped and took aim as he and his girl heard the whir of Security Bots, how he hated those things. He opened fire, as he had many times, but these gave him pause, as they did not go down.

Selene growled and sent fire their way but they dodged it easily, staying out of reach as they fired at the bewildered Big Daddy and Big Sister. Delta groaned in pain as he was peppered with automatic fire from the flying Bots. They seemed to be concentrating fire on him.

Selene leapt in front of her Daddy, trying to shield him as she screamed, her cries of anger and defiance echoing as she sent her powers to ensnare the two Bots and make them crash into each other with explosive force.

"_You like those, huh...custom made by my boys up in Sinclair Deluxe...a lot harder to shoot down, and I wager if it weren't for your Hussy, you'd be dead 'bout now. They just don't make 'em like they used to. Other Tin Daddies are tough as nails, but you...you need your little girl to take it…"_

Delta tightened his grip on his rivet gun, growling as he and his girl came to a Gatherer's Garden machine. He spent his carefully conserved ADAM and got the new Plasmid Winter Blast. He also upgraded his Telekinesis, Incinerate and Electro Bolt.

He and Selene went on, dispatching splicers where they came, and catching the occasional glimpse of Brute Splicers. In time they came to the main hallway leading into the Sinclair Deluxe Hotel and Delta and Selene walked side by side.

Delta grabbed his daughter, pulling her back just as the roof came crashing down, blocking the way, thanks to the strength of a Brute and a boulder. "Well fuck…" Selene cursed and Delta growled low.

Too bad his radio had been destroyed, or he could have consulted Sinclair about their predicament.

He would just have to find another way. His thoughts were interrupted as Selene walked up to the stone debris and began chipping at them and he sighed and rested his good hand on her shoulder, conveying his discouragement. So often she would do her best to help, but in this case she might end up doing more harm than good.

Selene nodded, turning back to face her Daddy, but before she could speak, there was a loud *KLANG* as a large rock came hurtling past Delta and impacted Selene's helmet. Turning fast, he saw a Brute laughing and running away, dashing into the main corridors outside the Hotel.

He growled as he turned back to his girl, knowing it would be best to attend to Selene rather than pursue their attacker.

**Father, is she alright? ** ~I don't know dear daughter, I must remove her helmet...I fear it is irreparably damaged now~

Delta reached down, propping Selene up against the rocks and he used his TK to pry off the latches and hoses of her helmet, gently pulling it away from her head and being careful not to let her hair become entangled.

Eleanor looked on through her father's eyes, chewing her lower lip as she rocked back and forth subtly, hugging her knees to herself as she sat on her bed, shivering slightly from the cold.

Delta saw that the damage was mostly superficial, a scrape on Selene's left cheek, closer to her ear. It was only a scrape, but seeing it made his blood boil. She was hurt...they hurt her, they hurt her! It was made worse by the fact that he was all out of med kits.

He stood, making sure her unconscious form was rested against the wall this time, near the Drill refueling station that was conveniently there.

He refilled his Drill, topping up the fuel and he clenched his fists, though his left hand still throbbed, he cared not. He would hunt down every last brute in all of Pauper's Drop and make them all pay. Then he would find Grace Holloway and make her pay. Yes he would.

He trembled as he checked his EVE reserves, noting he was still good, though it wouldn't matter, he would tear them apart, all of them, kill them all.

Eleanor, swallowed nervously, more than a little bit scared at her father's new dark thoughts.

Delta lumbered on through the twisting corridors, loath to leave his daughter behind, but he had made sure she was protected by many strategically placed trap rivets. He made sure to stock up on heavy rivets, for he knew he would be needing them soon enough.

Soon he returned to the Diner, checking around, ever watchful for any splicers. Coming out of the kitchen area, he turned the corner, spotting a peculiar looking body slumped against the wall in the far corner. Soon he stood before the body, spotting some numbers scrawled in blood, making a mental note of them, but what caught his eye was the double barreled shotgun across the man's lap.

He picked it up, grinning as he grunted in satisfaction. With this, he could dish out some serious hurt.

He tucked it away to conserve the ammo, turning as he left the Diner and continued further into the regions of the Drop.

He paused and listened, hearing the distant giggle of one of the 13 remaining Little Sisters.

Delta readied his new shotgun, turning into a long area, and in the distance he spotted the Bouncer class Big Daddy, trugging along as his Little Sister looked about in wonder. "This way Mr. Bubbles, more angels!" came her voice through the cold damp air.

Delta took careful aim for the Big Daddy's head as he moved closer, trying his best to stay out of sight. He fired, the kick of his new weapon only slight in his steely grip and the Big Daddy's head was peppered with the hot lead. The Daddy growled, his view ports turning red as he turned and lunged at Delta, the Little sister screaming as she cried out, "Ahhh! Daddy!"

Delta quickly tucked away his gun, prepared for the charge as he brought his hands up, taking hold of the enemy's arms. The Daddy grunted as Delta used his own momentum to fling him around and back the way he had charged, his body shattering the pillar that had been there.

The pillar shattered almost to dust as the Daddy rumbled and got up fast, shaking it off, but Delta sent a stream of lethal lightning into the shallow pool of water that had accumulated in the little pit walkway of this market like area.

The Daddy groaned as he shook, electricity coursing through him. Delta walked right up to the Daddy, his own body jerking as the electro bolt had not yet dissipated. He did not care, he had a mission.

He pressed the barrel right against the glass part of the Daddy's helmet and *BOOM* his remaining round blew the Big Daddy's head to mush within the confines of his wrecked helmet.

The body toppled over, and Delta paused to regard it, wondering, not for the first time, why these men were turned into Big Daddies. Yet he felt no malice towards them, merely a numb pity. He was as they were. Prisoners in their suits, perhaps never again to be real men, just walking nearly mindless programmed slaves to The Man, now The Woman.

He turned to pick up the Little Sister, knowing his thoughts on this matter were not over.

"Daddy!" came the happy voice of the Little Sister as he sat her on his shoulder. "I'm telling all the other girls that I have the best Daddy!"

**Oh, I already know I have the best Father… **came Eleanor's voice in his head. Delta smiled, but it faltered as he sensed Eleanor's new apprehension. Whether it was from what they had thus so far witnessed about Selene or from something else, he could not say, but he knew in his heart that soon they would be reunited and all questions would be asked and answered.

Soon Delta followed his steps back to where he had seen a vent. He did not bother with ADAM gathering this time, far too eager for revenge upon Grace Holloway and the Brute Splicers.

As he reverted the little one, he no longer wondered how they seemed to know where to go, clearly his dear Eleanor exerted some form of control or communications with them, probably due to the experimentations she had undergone.

He smiled as he felt ADAM coursing through him, having ensured the Little Sister made her way into the ventilation system.

Delta continued on, checking his ammo as he refilled his EVE reserves, wondering how Selene was doing at this moment…

_MEANWHILE…._

Selene opened her eyes, her lids snapping open as she sprang to her feet, looking around fast.

"Daddy!?" she cried out, taking off down the hall away from the rubble, her feet pounding on the dank floor as she sprinted. She never even thought about her helmet, all that mattered was making sure daddy was okay.

She soon entered the downtown area, commonly called Town Square, spotting a large shadow on the other side of a newspaper stand.

_Daddy?_ she thought, running around to find herself facing a Brute. He charged at once, but she was not shaken as she charged as well.

She lunged low, thrusting her right hand up, taking hold of his large disgusting neck. "Nrgghh!" he bellowed as he found himself unable to breathe, lifted up off the filthy stone floor. Selene quickly used her TK to pin his arms, tightening her grip on his throat.

Her lovely face twisted into a scowl which would have made Fontaine himself tremble as she said through gritted teeth: "Where. Is. My. Daddy."

Flinging him onto his back next to a broken water main beside the stand, she used her Winter Blast to freeze it, trapping the Brute.

He growled, his low thuggish voice sounding strained as he started to talk. "Fuck you, bitch, I ain't seen no Daddies. Who are you anyway, time was you gals never bothered us if'n we never fucked with you!"

Selene narrowed her eyes, her tone low, dangerous, angry.

"I'm Selene, and one of you broke my helmet...I hate you guys so much!" she crouched suddenly, bringing a large rock down hard on the brute's left hand with a great *_crunch*_

"ARGHH!" cried the brute, struggling against the ice keeping him trapped.

"I never saw no Big Daddies! Maybe one of the others, but not me!"

"Lies!" Selene raised the rock, smashing in his head. As the large body spasmed, she kept beating it with the rock, shouting, "lies! lies! lies!"

She did not notice a shadow fall upon her, stopping only when a strong hand ensnared her by her wrist, pulling her away from the body and wrapping her in his embrace.

Delta held Selene as she cried, his own eye closed in a sadness for her, which he could sense Eleanor also felt. How much she had fallen. How ironic that what she needed now was a psychiatrist, and the only one was the madwoman in control of what remained of Rapture.

Delta held his daughter tightly as she cried, her shoulders trembling. Powerful though she was, she was still just a child in need of a parent. Delta swore once more as he held her, swore that he would be that guiding hand, a father to her and Eleanor, no matter the cost.

After several moments, Selene let go of her daddy, wiping her eyes. "I got scared when I woke up...I didn't know where you were, I thought they knocked you out too and took you away!"

Delta caressed her tear streaked face, moaning in a low tone. He held up what looked like a film camera.

Selene, tilted her head, sniffling as she wiped her eyes, "a camera, what's that for, daddy?"

Delta turned, pointing his rivet gun as he raised the camera, pretending to film and he shot a large slab of concrete, raising his shotgun in its place and he fired, blowing out a large chunk of it near the top.

Selene nodded her understanding. "So it will make it easier for you to kill the evil angels…"

Delta bowed, acknowledging her deduction with a proud grunt. Damaged though she was, she was still a bright girl.

The Alpha Big Daddy gestured for her to stay behind him, more protective than ever now since she was without her helmet. He paused to film the body of the mangled brute, certain that data would aid him later. Selene pouted as she stepped into line behind Daddy.

"Aw, I can still look after myself, I killed that brute didn't I?"

Delta tapped his helmet and his girl blinked, "oh…"

Continuing on, he once more frowned to himself, displeased that his suit radio had been damaged, for he could have used Sinclair's voice right now.

Soon he came upon another brute, this one wearing a red tie and he just knew...it was he who had dishonorably attacked his girl. Stopping Selene with a raised hand, she crouched, still concealed by the corner.

He made sure she would wait there, loading his new shotgun. He advanced on the brute, taking advantage of the fact that the big lummox was as yet unaware of his presence.

Turning on his camera, he opened fire, the brute grunted in pain as his shoulder turned scarlet. Delta turned, using his feet to strife. The brute charged and Delta sidestepped, though the elbow of the brute hit him on his injured side.

Eleanor winced, rubbing her side as she sat on her bed, feeling her father's pain. She was surprised at the intensity, clearly he was either that much closer, or Father was doing a good job of suppressing how injured he actually was.

She wanted to ask him, but she dared not contact him, knowing full well at this time he needed his full concentration.

Delta swung around, firing off his second round, still filming as he kept up his attack. The brute howled, trying to heave a large rock at Delta and he caught it with his powers, sending it right back.

Meanwhile, Selene peeked around the corner, gripping the concrete so hard he left marks in it. She silently cheered for Daddy, wishing she could help like before but knowing she was vulnerable without her helmet.

Delta used his rivet gun, his shotgun out of ammo, firing at the brute, still filming and when that too clicked out, he flung more boulders at the brute, also using his Winter Blast, WB, to freeze the large splicer and get close enough to drill him. Hearing his camera chime, he stepped back just as the brute unfroze, swinging his ham sized fists up in a dizzying rage. "Kill you!" he shouted, knocking Delta back several feet.

"Daddy!" shouted Selene, charging from her hiding spot and she flung herself at the brute, shouldering him out of the way as he had prepared to slam a great slab of rock down on the dazed Delta.

The brute tried to backhand her but she was too fast as she ducked and swung up her weapon needle, impaling the brute through the chin and he gurgled, his body going limp as the end of the needle protruded out of his head. She pulled her needle out, kicking his body away.

Running to daddy, she crouched and shook him. "Daddy, Daddy, are you okay?"

Delta grunted, patting her shoulder as she quickly helped him back to his feet.

Delta checked his drill, heading into the nearby lounge, conveying to Selene to stay outside.

She nodded, standing guard as he went inside. He came upon two dancing splicers, flinging fire at them. They screamed as they burned, the man jumping off the stage as he rushed Delta with a pipe. Delta revved up his drill, charging at the man and smashing his drill into his chest. The burnt splicer screamed as he went sailing across the room, landing in a heap on top of the tables haphazardly crammed into the corner.

Meanwhile, the woman fired at him with her tommy gun and Delta grunted from the pain.

"HNN!" he cried as his vision pinked. He grabbed on of the tables, hurling it at the woman, who was too startled to dodge and she impacted the back of the stage with a loud crash, her dirty legs protruding from the bottom of the table.

Delta headed into the back rooms, finding a Power to the People upgrade station and he upgraded his drill. Soon he returned to Selene and she walked beside him wordlessly as they made their way back to the Town Square.

Eleanor kept her eyes shut, seeing through her Father's eyes, and she hugged her knees to herself, glad that they were both doing all right.

She watched as they killed several more splicers, Selene pinning several to the ground with her powers as Delta filmed them to gather data on their weaknesses. How he hacked into the clinic and came upon another upgrade station. How he and her sister came across the other Rosie protecting his Little Sister, who was gathering on the roof. She watched as Delta and Selene worked to freeze the Daddy and shatter him with their combined might. Watching even more closely, she saw the Little Sister accept her Father, being carried as Selene escorted them to the nearest vent. Eleanor rubbed her eyes, wanting to sleep but she could not. Eventually she watched as they came back to the Sinclair Deluxe, Delta using his new drill dash ability to smash away the rubble.

Eleanor yawned, wondering why she would be feeling so sleepy suddenly, and only after she shifted her focus away from Father did she realize the terrible truth. Lamb stood outside her cell, her arms crossed as she regarded her experiment. Sleeping gas was being pumped into Eleanor's cell and Sophia Lamb watched as Eleanor ran to the glass and beat her fists against it.

"No! Stop it! Stop it! Nooo!" Eleanor fixed the older women with a sleepy terrified gaze, Lamb smiling wickedly as sleep took hold of her daughter who slumped against the glass.

Delta paused as he neared Grace's room, keeping Selene behind him as always.

~Eleanor? ...Eleanor!?~ he thought frantically. He sensed she was still alive but since he could no longer hear her thoughts he surmised she was out cold. It must have been Lamb, but why now.

Soon, after killing some more splicers and even a brute, they came to Grace's place. Selene saw a pink bedroom, what was once a little girl's room and she gasped. "Grace took care of Eleanor!"

Delta nodded, rummaging through the apartment and he found a secret switch, tapping it and a section of the wall in Grace's closet slid up.

He and Selene entered a small hallway, leading to a safe room, and they both peered inside, finding the elderly lady standing to greet them, leaning on her cane. "So, Tin Daddy and his girl come to see me at last...took you long enough," came her voice through a speaker they could not see.

Delta swiped his hurt hand over the circular viewport, keeping an eye on the old woman.

"I guess you found another girl to twist around your finger, huh Tin Daddy...a hussy if I ever saw one...wasn't Eleanor enough...she was one stubborn little Lamb, just like her mother."

Delta turned, wincing on the inside as Selene jerked back from the door as though she'd been slapped, the color draining from her already pale face.

"E-Eleanor….Lamb?"


	9. Man the Torpedoes!

Selene stood stock still, her lovely face framed by her blonde hair, her face twisted into a look of shock.

"Eleanor...Lamb?" she repeated, her voice thick with disbelief, betrayal, anger.

Delta sighed.

He had not expected Grace to reveal such information so soon. He would have liked Eleanor to tell Selene herself once they rescued her. Now it was too late, and he lifted his uninjured hand, as if to comfort his daughter.

Selene noticed, shoving his arm away quickly. "You knew and you never even hinted. Did Bridget know? Does Augustus? Why…?" her voice took on a tone of sadness, shaky with her emotions.

Delta pressed his hand to his chest, then he extended it to her, his palm upturned in a gesture of "I wanted to tell you, but I couldn't," and Selene turned, waiting for Grace Holloway to open the door to her inner sanctum. "Please...we won't hurt you, we just want the control key…"

Grace pressed a switch and the door slid open. She had not said anything else since her revelation.

Delta entered, taking the key and he cast one last look at Grace, knowing that the old singer had only been trying to care for his daughter Eleanor once more in the past. Just as he had when he knocked her down. Although he could not tell her he was sorry, that he was grateful for her having raised Eleanor for that brief time following her mother's incarceration.

Delta walked out, hoping that him leaving her alone would be good enough, a sign of his unspoken apology.

"Wait...Daddy, aren't we going to take her with us too?" Selene asked, stopping Delta with her hand on his arm.

Delta turned to his girl, making a fist with his good hand, and he tried shoving his other fingers into it, to try to say that there would not be enough room in the train car. Selene seemed to understand.

She turned and leaned in to the small safe room, smiling at Grace. "Um...I have a lot to think about, but thank you, nice lady, for giving us the key and we promise...we'll take care of Eleanor."

Grace, nodded, speaking softly "Don't be judging her too harshly, you hear? She's a far gentler soul than her mommy ever was."

Selene nodded and turned, walking out of the tiny alcove with her Daddy, hoping that Ms. Holloway would be alright.

Selene followed her Daddy without a word as they headed back down through the hotel to get back to the rest of her "sisters" and Mr. Sinclair.

Delta tried to contact Eleanor, but his mind was empty save for his own troubled thoughts. Where was she, what would Seline say or do once they found her and what of Sophia?

He kept his guard up despite his troubled mind, knowing that his other girl was here with him and that she was vulnerable without her helmet. Even so she cast him dark looks, not just because he was being overly cautious, but also for what he had been keeping from her.

Selene knew she would have a better chance to talk with her Daddy later, but for now there could still be other Splicers and Brutes.

Making their way, they scanned the dimly lit halls of Sinclair's hotel. Selene paused and listened, not hearing anything and they kept going, her weapon needle raised and ready.

Soon enough they entered back into the main area, not having seen a single wretched soul. How odd that they had not even encountered anymore Big Daddies or Little Sisters or even Big Sisters.

Delta grew more worried as they continued on, thinking that perhaps Eleanor's silence and the fact that Dr. Lamb's threats had not issued out of Rapture's P.A System had something to do with it.

They made it back without incident, and Selene knocked on the train's door to let the others know that they were back.

Suddenly, before they could open the door, they heard a buzzing sound and Selene turned fast, ready to throw fire as two security bots flew into the room. Delta stared for a few moments before touching Selene's shoulder. She looked at Daddy and lowered her hands, and only then did she notice that the bots' lights were green, friendly instead of angry hostile red.

Grace's voice floated in as she said: "Well, I don't know what there be in this world but crazy men and crazier women, but my little Lamb must have seen something in you, past the tin. These here are more of those custom bots I had made and now you get to use 'em. Use 'em well and find little Eleanor and smack some sense into her mama. Take care of that youngin' you got there...and take care o' yourself, Tin Da...Delta."

Selene smiled as the bots flew down and shut off, compacting themselves so they could be stored easier in the train. She used her telekinesis to load them into the car amid the other Little Sisters.

Soon they were well on their way, riding along as Sinclair stood beside Daddy, telling him and them about his past, his hotel.

Selene stared out the window past them, trying to sort her thoughts. She shook a bit, which had nothing at all to do with the cold. _If Daddy didn't tell me, I guess maybe he had a good reason...but why...why would he keep Eleanor's last name from me...even though her mommy is very mean, she isn't, she's my sister...but wait, maybe because Lamb was one of the ones who turned me and the other older Littles into...this…._

Her thoughts were interrupted as she spotted a shape coming at them through the water. Narrowing her eyes, she shoved her way to the front beside Sinclair, gasping as she recognized the thing.

"Torpedo!" she yelled, and the Sisters in the back screamed, the younger ones starting to cry.

Delta growled at their rotten luck, turning and he braced himself on the wall, as did Sinclair. Seline reached out and swatted the torpedo away with her powerful TK, which was able to affect further things than Delta's powers.

A voice crackled out of the radio on the train console as the torpedo swerved wide and took off almost the same way it had come from.

"Damn you to Hell, betrayers!" the strange voice bellowed, to which Sinclair shook his head and muttered, "well if it ain't Father Wales...runs the more fanatical branches of The Rapture Family...turns out Sophia thought he was a little too unhinged, so-"

The car shook as Selene lept back, embracing the girls in a protective group hug as the torpedo destroyed a significant part of the nearby building. Siren Alley.

"Oh my God, what about the other Little Sisters!? Aren't there more in there?" came Augustus's startled voice.

Delta stepped back to the controls, shaking his head. Turning he raised his good hand and made a falling gesture with his hand and then he patted Selene's back as she kept hugging the Little Sisters.

"So, what you're sayin' Sport is that all the Daddies and Little Sisters...fell back? To the prison?"

Delta Nodded, walking over to Selene and he hugged her gently, looping his arm across her collar.

She smiled and stood, wiping a tear from her wet eyes. "I'm just glad Daddy and the others weren't hurt...and that the rest of the Daddies and Sisters went back to where Eleanor and Lamb are...I thought...I thought…." her lower lip trembled as she fought back more tears.

Delta hugged her gently, nodding in his helmet and he turned and regarded the rest of the little ones, making sure they were all okay.

The younger ones still sniffled, wiping their eyes and they smiled a bit, trying their best to be brave. The ones who hadn't met Dr. Tenebaum where the ones feeling the most fear, but the ones who had known her, and who knew Selene and Delta did their best to be brave.

They all rode the train in silence, all the while Delta's unease grew and grew. Sinclair turned to talk to the others as they started to slow, nearing Dionysus Park.

"Heads up, we're nearing the Park, but we don't gotta stop here…" he let his voice trail off as he stared at Delta. To his credit, Delta simply nodded and pointed on, indicating that they should proceed on to the next leg of their journey, Fontaine Futuristics.

Still As Delta stared out the window, at the murky shape that was Dionysus Park, he could not shake a feeling of unease, as though there was something there that may have been important for him alone to find out.

Delta frowned, shaking his head, knowing full well that it was the safety of his children, and of the Little Sisters that he should be focused on.

Selene meanwhile, was busy talking softly to the other Little ones, asking them what they could remember of where they came from.

Ashamed as she was for what she had done to them, she was determined to fulfill Brigid Tenenbaum's last wish, no matter what it took. Further compounding her shame was that she had not yet absorbed the right ADAM from her fellow Big Sisters to learn of where the children came from in the surface world. So she was trying to learn the old-fashioned way.

They eventually came to a screeching halt as the train car arrived at Fontaine Futuristics, and Delta held his hand to Selene, telling her wordlessly to wait with the children and Sinclair.

Selene nodded, though Delta still noticed how she shook, perhaps with rage and deep shame at being so vulnerable without her helmet.

Sinclair smiled, reassuring Delta that he'd stay with them, as he had been doing, to which Delta nodded.

Delta soon left the train, proceeding on his way, trying to focus on the task at hand, namely finding a way down to Persephone, the prison that had been Sofia Lamb's residence and base of operations, far removed from the rest of Rapture.

Delta knew that even though most of the main forces had withdrawn from the city, there were still multitudes of Splicers to contend with.

After heading through a winding corridor, he eventually happened upon a TV embedded in the the wall. He listened to the voice of Gilbert Alexander, and he learned what he needed to do. Soon he emerged into the main lobby of the building, at once spotting two splicers trying to hack into a Gene Bank. Delta pointed his rivet gun at them, but before he could shoot, a strange looking security bot flew in from a ceiling vent and fried them with a bolt of electricity.

"_Oh-la-la-la-dee-da-da!"___came a whimsical voice from the bot. Delta fired at the bot, but his rivets hit a small barrier around it and bounced off. He had never seen anything like this yet, but knowing the voice issuing from it was that of Gilbert, now insane as his previous recording had said, he gave up shooting it. The modified security bot flew up to him, and through a small TV on it he saw what appeared to be an eye, a mutated large glassy red eye.

"_Well well well well well well now, I know you, Delta...yes, the Daddy everyone's talking about, oh the things they're saying about you!"_

Delta growled, having no time for this, doing his best to ignore the mad machinations of Gilbert's flying avatar.

He pressed on through the facility, noting that at least he wasn't being stopped by the strange buzzing security bot.

Several Splicers huddled around a body, seemingly trying to extract some ADAM from it in the main stairway to the upper floors and Delta growled, revving up his drill as he charged at them as they stayed unaware.

"Ahhhh!" shrieked the first, sent flying in the nearby Gatherer's Garden machine, hitting it was a meaty _thump_. Delta turned fast, blasting the nearest splicer in the head with three heavy rivets. The *chink-chink-chink* of his gun sounded as the splicer took all three rounds in the face, sending him screaming and dying, pitching back into a trove of plants and spraying the leaves with his blood.

"HNNN," cried Delta as his vision pinked and he turned as the two other splicers attacked his blind sides at the same time.

Bashing at them with his drill, he brought his shotgun to bear on the nearest, a delapitate lady with a mess of scars for a face. She looked down and screamed, "FUU-!" followed by the loud _BLAM _as the shotgun pellets obliterated her abdomen

The splicer went sliding in a bloody mangled mess along the floor, and just as quickly as she landed, Delta had pivoted, blasting the last splicer with his final round from the double barreled shotgun, catching him in the shoulder.

He heard the crazed cackling of Alexander from his flying bot, growling again he tried to swat at it with his empty weapon.

He hissed, catching the strange force-field with the back of his injured left hand, the pierce wound still sensitive.

Putting away his weapon, he turned to the Garden machine, using the last of his ADAM to upgrade his Winter Blast power.

Delta checked his ammo, moving on to the upper floors, intent on collecting anything that could still prove useful, since he didn't know what he was getting himself into, but knowing how ruthlessly intelligent Sophia Lamb was he was better being prepared for anything.

After searching as extensively as he could, and not seeing another splicer, the mad words of Alexander echoed in his thoughts as he proceeded to the entryway that would take him to the hidden laboratories where he would find the means into Persephone and rescue Eleanor.

As he watched the door swing open, he turned as he found Selene beside him, still surprised at how stealthy and quiet on her feet she could be.

"I'm going with you, Daddy, I know it's dangerous, but Selene is my sister...and...I know you didn't tell me about her to protect me, but I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself, so I'm going with you, because I want to protect you too.

"Besides, with both of us, we stand a better chance of getting to her together, right?"

Delta nodded, checking his health packs and ammo as he turned back to the door, advancing with his second daughter by his side.

As they came to the inner door leading to Gilbert's Tank space, he stopped his daughter, stepping in front of her as he pulled on the door.

Stepping into the enormous space, he stopped dead in his tracks and he heard Selene gasp. From the various speakers throughout the cavernous room, he heard the mad peels of laughter from Alex the Great, as he called himself, the giant mutated man enclosed in a murky pink tank, huge from floor to high cave ceiling.

That wasn't the most shocking sight, however. Crouching on hand rails, grasping rock outcroppings, poised in deadly crouches, were the remaining Big Sisters, and around them were at least a dozen Brutes and other splicers.

"_Welcome, Delta and your plus one to our grand gala...now, ladies, show our guests to the dance floor, tee hee hee hee!"_

Delta growled and Selene screamed as they were pulled by the combined power of the Big Sisters, deep into the murky chamber as the large rusty door swung shut with a *_Klang_* drowning out the sounds of Delta and Selene's cries of despair and hate.


End file.
